Which Japanese general signed the surrender document for Japan’s armed forces in 1945?

Yoshijirō Umezu signed the surrender document for Japan’s armed forces in 1945.

Umezu was Chief of the Imperial Japanese General Staff, making him the senior representative of Japan’s military at the ceremony. He signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender aboard USS Missouri on September 2, 1945.

Mamoru Shigemitsu signed first for the Japanese government. Umezu then signed for the Imperial Japanese Army and armed forces. Their two signatures represented the civilian government and the military authority that had directed Japan’s war effort.

Umezu reportedly did not want to attend the ceremony but was ordered to do so by Emperor Hirohito. He signed with a small group of Japanese delegates while Allied representatives watched from the opposite side of the deck. Umezu was later tried as a Class-A war criminal and died in prison in January 1949.