Which Japanese military body did General Yoshijiro Umezu represent when signing the 1945 surrender?

General Yoshijiro Umezu represented Imperial General Headquarters when signing Japan’s 1945 surrender.

Umezu was Chief of the Army General Staff and signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender after Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu. His signature was made by command of and on behalf of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, the central wartime command authority.

This role was distinct from Shigemitsu’s. Shigemitsu signed for the Japanese government, while Umezu signed for the military command. The arrangement demonstrated that both the civilian government and the armed forces were bound by the surrender terms.

Umezu had been a senior Japanese Army commander and served as Chief of the Army General Staff during the final phase of the war. He was later convicted of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. The Supreme War Council and Japanese Cabinet were important wartime institutions, but neither was the body Umezu named on the surrender document.