What was the title of Emperor Hirohito’s recorded surrender message broadcast on August 15, 1945?

Emperor Hirohito’s recorded surrender message was titled the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War. It was broadcast to Japan on August 15, 1945, after the emperor decided that the country should accept the Allied terms.

The rescript was recorded the previous day inside the Imperial Palace. Military hardliners attempted a coup to prevent the recording from being broadcast, but the attempt failed. The recording reached the public at noon and became known as the Gyokuon-hōsō, meaning the “broadcast of the emperor’s voice.”

The Imperial Rescript should not be confused with the Potsdam Declaration, which was the Allied demand Japan accepted, or with the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, which was signed later in Tokyo Bay. These were separate documents with different purposes.