What was the title of the document Emperor Hirohito read in his August 15, 1945 surrender broadcast?

Emperor Hirohito read the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War in his August 15, 1945 surrender broadcast.

The rescript communicated the imperial decision to accept the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and end the war. Hirohito’s recorded reading was broadcast at noon in Japan, two days after the Soviet Union entered the war against Japan and shortly after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The document’s wording was formal and indirect. Rather than simply announcing “Japan surrenders,” it stated that Japan had decided to accept the Allied declaration. The broadcast was followed by an explanation from an announcer so listeners would understand that hostilities were ending.

The rescript should not be confused with the Japanese Instrument of Surrender. The rescript announced the decision to end the war to the Japanese public; the Instrument of Surrender was the legal document signed aboard USS Missouri on September 2, 1945.