The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was the written agreement that formalized the surrender of the Empire of Japan, marking the end of hostilities in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was signed by representatives from the

Empire of Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

and from the Allied nations: the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

, the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

,The Republic of China was the only government of China until the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

was promulgated in 1949. the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, the

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by are ...

, the

Commonwealth of Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It has a total area of , making it the sixth-largest country in ...

, the

Dominion of Canada While a variety of theories have been postulated for the name of Canada, its origin is now accepted as coming from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word , meaning 'village' or 'settlement'. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec C ...

, the

Provisional Government of the French Republic The Provisional Government of the French Republic (PGFR; , GPRF) was the provisional government of Free France between 3 June 1944 and 27 October 1946, following the liberation of continental France after Operations ''Overlord'' and ''Drago ...

, the

Kingdom of the Netherlands The Kingdom of the Netherlands (, ;, , ), commonly known simply as the Netherlands, is a sovereign state consisting of a collection of constituent territories united under the monarch of the Netherlands, who functions as head of state. The re ...

, and the

Dominion of New Zealand The Dominion of New Zealand was the historical successor to the Colony of New Zealand. It was a constitutional monarchy with a high level of self-government within the British Empire. New Zealand became a separate British Crown colony in 1841 ...

. The signing took place on the deck of in

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan spanning the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture, on the southern coast of the island of Honshu. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. Th ...

on 2 September 1945. The date is sometimes known as

Victory over Japan Day Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Surrender of Japan, Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war End of World War II in Asia, to an end. The ...

. However, that designation more frequently refers to the date of Emperor

Hirohito , Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...

's ''

Gyokuon-hōsō The Hirohito surrender broadcast (, ), was a radio broadcast of surrender given by Hirohito, the emperor of Japan, on August 15, 1945. It announced to the Japanese people that the Japanese government had accepted the Potsdam Declaration, which ...

'' (Imperial Rescript of Surrender), the radio broadcast announcement of the acceptance of the terms of the

Potsdam Declaration The Potsdam Declaration, or the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender, was a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II. On July 26, 1945, United States President Harry S. Truman, ...

at noon

Japan Standard Time , or , is the standard time zone in Japan, 9 hours ahead of UTC (UTC+09:00). Japan does not observe daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated on several occasions. During World War II, the time zone was often referred to a ...

on 15 August.

Preparation

General

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He served with dis ...

's staff, headed by Colonel LeGrande A. Diller, were tasked to prepare the draft of the Instrument of Surrender. This was a challenge given resources were limited in war-torn

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

. Nevertheless, an enterprising staff member found rare parchment in a basement of a monastery, and this was given to MacArthur's printer.

Surrender ceremony

The ceremony aboard the deck of ''Missouri'' lasted 23 minutes and was broadcast throughout the world. It occurred at 35° 21' 17" N, 139° 45' 36" E
-> in

. The instrument was first signed by the Japanese foreign minister

Mamoru Shigemitsu was a Japanese diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs three times during and after World War II and as Deputy Prime Minister. As a civilian plenipotentiary representing the Japanese government, Shigemitsu cosigned the Japanese In ...

"By Command and on behalf of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese Government" (9:04 a.m.). General

Yoshijirō Umezu (January 4, 1882 – January 8, 1949) was a Japanese general in World War II and Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, Chief of the Army General Staff during the final years of the conflict. He was convicted of Japanese war crimes, war crimes an ...

, Chief of the Army General Staff, then signed the document "By Command and on behalf of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters" (9:06 a.m.). The Japanese representatives present for the signing were the following: * Foreign Minister

* General

, Chief of the Army General Staff * Major General Yatsuji Nagai *

Katsuo Okazaki was a Japanese diplomat, politician and sportsman. He served as the Japanese foreign minister in the 1950s. He was also the final – and only Japanese – chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council. Early life Okazaki was born on 10 July 189 ...

(Foreign Ministry) * Rear Admiral

Sadatoshi Tomioka Baron was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Biography Tomioka was born in Hiroshima, but was raised in Nagano prefecture. His father, Admiral Tomioka Sadayasu had been ennobled by Emperor Meiji for services in the R ...

Toshikazu Kase was a Japanese civil service, civil servant and career diplomat. During World War II he was a high-ranking Foreign Ministry official. Hideaki Kase is his son and Yoko Ono is his niece. Biography Kase was born in Chiba (city), Chiba, Japan, f ...

(Foreign Ministry) * Lieutenant General Suichi Miyakazi * Rear Admiral Ichiro Yokoyama * Saburo Ota (Foreign Ministry) * Captain Katsuo Shiba (Navy) * Colonel Kaziyi Sugita At 9:08 a.m., American

General of the Army Army general or General of the army is the highest ranked general officer in many countries that use the French Revolutionary System. Army general is normally the highest rank used in peacetime. In countries that adopt the general officer fou ...

, the Commander in the Southwest Pacific and

Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers The Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (), or SCAP, was the title held by General Douglas MacArthur during the United States-led Allied occupation of Japan following World War II. It issued SCAP Directives (alias SCAPIN, SCAP Index Number) ...

, accepted the surrender on behalf of the Allied Powers and signed in his capacity as Supreme Commander. After MacArthur, the following representatives signed the instrument of surrender on behalf of each of the Allied Powers: *

Fleet Admiral An admiral of the fleet or shortened to fleet admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to field marshal and marshal of the air force. An admiral of the fleet is typically senior to an admiral. It is also a generic ter ...

Chester Nimitz Chester William Nimitz (; 24 February 1885 – 20 February 1966) was a Fleet admiral (United States), fleet admiral in the United States Navy. He played a major role in the naval history of World War II as Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Co ...

for the United States (9:12 a.m.) *

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Hsu Yung-chang for China (9:13 a.m.) *

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

Sir Bruce Fraser for the United Kingdom (9:14 a.m.) *

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Kuzma Derevyanko for the Soviet Union (9:16 a.m.)The Soviet Union had only declared war on Japan a month earlier, after the

Hiroshima bombing On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, during World War II. The aerial bombings killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, most of whom were civil ...

. *

Sir

Thomas Blamey Field marshal (Australia), Field Marshal Sir Thomas Albert Blamey (24 January 1884 – 27 May 1951) was an Australian general of the First World War, First and Second World Wars. He is the only Australian to attain the rank of field marshal. Bl ...

for Australia (9:17 a.m.) *

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Lawrence Moore Cosgrave Colonel Lawrence Vincent Moore Cosgrave, (August 28, 1890 – July 28, 1971) was a Canadian soldier, author, diplomat and trade commissioner. He was the Canadian signatory to the Japanese Instrument of Surrender at the end of World War II. ...

for Canada (9:18 a.m.) *

Général de Corps d'Armée An army corps general or corps general is a rank held by a general officer who commands an army corps. The rank originates from the General officer#French Revolutionary system, French Revolutionary System, and is used by a number of countries. Nor ...

Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque Philippe François Marie Leclerc de Hauteclocque (22 November 1902 – 28 November 1947) was a Free France, Free-French general during World War II. He became Marshal of France posthumously in 1952, and is known in France simply as or ju ...

for France (9:20 a.m.) * Lieutenant Admiral Conrad Helfrich for the Netherlands (9:21 a.m.) *

Air Vice-Marshal Air vice-marshal (Air Vce Mshl or AVM) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometime ...

Leonard M. Isitt for New Zealand (9:22 a.m.) The UK invited

Dominion A dominion was any of several largely self-governance, self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of self-governing colony, colon ...

governments to send representatives to the ceremony as subordinates to its own. MacArthur supported the government of Australia's demand to attend and sign separately from the UK, although Australia objected to his recommendation that Canada, the Netherlands, and France also sign the document. On 6 September, Colonel Bernard Theilen took the document and an imperial rescript to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and presented them to President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

in a formal

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

ceremony the following day. Following a ceremony led by General Jonathan Wainwright, the documents were then exhibited at the

National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

. On October 1, 1945, the documents were formally received (accessioned) into the holdings of the National Archives.

Flags at the ceremony

The deck of the ''Missouri'' was furnished with two

U.S. flags The national flag of the United States, often referred to as the American flag or the U.S. flag, consists of thirteen horizontal Bar (heraldry), stripes, Variation of the field, alternating red and white, with a blue rectangle in the Canton ( ...

. A commonly heard story is that one of the flags had flown over the

on the day

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

was attacked. However, Captain Stuart Murray of USS ''Missouri'' explained: That special flag on the veranda deck of the ''Missouri'' had been flown from Commodore

Matthew Perry Matthew Langford Perry (August 19, 1969 – October 28, 2023) was an American and Canadian actor, comedian, director and screenwriter. He gained international fame for starring as Chandler Bing on the NBC television sitcom ''Friends'' (1994– ...

's flagship in 1853–54 when he led the U.S. Navy's Far East Squadron into

to force the opening of Japan's ports to foreign trade. Photographs of the signing ceremony show that this flag is displayed reverse side showing (stars in the upper right corner). This was because U.S. flags on the right of an object, plane, ship, or person have the stars on the upper right corner, to look like the flag is heading into as if attached to a pole and someone is carrying it. Stars in the upper left of a flag displayed on the right side of the object could make the flag look like it were going away from battle. The cloth of the historic flag was so fragile that the conservator at the U.S. Naval Academy Museum directed that a protective backing be sewn on it, leaving its "wrong side" visible; and this was how Perry's 31-star flag was presented on this unique occasion. A replica of this historic flag can be seen today on the Surrender Deck of the Battleship ''Missouri'' Memorial in Pearl Harbor. The original flag is still on display at the Naval Academy Museum, as is the table and tablecloth upon which the instrument of surrender was signed, and the original bronze plaque marking the location of the signing (which was replaced by two replicas in 1990).

Differences between versions

The Japanese copy of the treaty varied from the Allied in the following ways: * The Canadian representative, Colonel

, signed below his line instead of above it on the Japanese copy, so everyone after him had to sign one line below the intended one. This was attributed to Cosgrave being blind in one eye from a

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

injury. When the discrepancy was pointed out to General

Richard K. Sutherland Lieutenant General Richard Kerens Sutherland (27 November 1893 – 25 June 1966) was a United States Army officer during World War II. He served as General of the Army Douglas MacArthur's Chief of Staff in the South West Pacific Area during the ...

, he crossed out the pre-printed name titles of the Allied nations and rewrote by hand the titles in their correct relative positions. The Japanese initially found this alteration unacceptable—until Sutherland initialed (as an abbreviated signature) each alteration. The Japanese representatives did not complain further.,

Current locations

The Allied copy of the Instrument is at the United States

National Archives Building The National Archives Building, known informally as Archives I, is the headquarters of the United States National Archives and Records Administration. It is located north of the National Mall at 700 Pennsylvania Avenue (Washington, D.C.), Penn ...

The Japanese copy is at the Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in Tokyo, and was last publicly displayed in 2015, as part of an exhibition marking the 70th anniversary of the signing. A replica version of the Japanese copy can be viewed at the archive's gallery, and at the

Edo-Tokyo Museum The is a historical museum located at 1-4-1 Yokoami, Sumida-Ku, Tokyo in the Ryogoku district. The museum opened in March 1993 to preserve Edo's cultural heritage, and features city models of Edo and Tokyo between 1590 (just prior to the ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. MacArthur originally had 11 full-sized facsimiles made of the Instrument of Surrender, but later increased this for distribution among the Allied nations present during the signing. Two of the copies which were given to Colonel LeGrande A. Diller and Major General

Basilio Valdes Basilio José Segundo "Basil" Pica Valdes (July 10, 1892 – January 26, 1970) was a Filipino doctor, general and minister. Valdes was chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1939, and was in 1941 appoin ...

for the Philippines are now displayed at The International Museum of World War II in

Natick, Massachusetts Natick ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 37,006 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. west of Boston, Natick is part o ...

. As witnesses, American general Jonathan Wainwright, who had surrendered the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, and British

lieutenant-general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

Arthur Percival, who had surrendered Singapore, received two of the six pens used by MacArthur to sign the instrument. Another pen went to the

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

military academy, and one to MacArthur's aide. All of the pens used by MacArthur were black, except the last, which was bright red and went to his wife. A replica of it, along with copies of the instrument of surrender, is in a case on ''Missouri'' by the plaque marking the signing spot. The National History Museum of the Republic of China has a reprint, and the Instrument of Surrender (along with seven other historic documents) was designated as a "National Treasure" by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of China in 2016.

Gallery

Image:Allied battleships in Sagami Bay 28 Aug 1945.jpg, Ships of

U.S. Third Fleet The United States Third Fleet is one of the numbered fleets in the United States Navy. Third Fleet's area of responsibility includes approximately fifty million square miles of the eastern and northern Pacific Ocean areas including the Bering S ...

and

British Pacific Fleet The British Pacific Fleet (BPF) was a Royal Navy formation that saw action against Japan during the Second World War. It was formed from aircraft carriers, other surface warships, submarines and supply vessels of the RN and British Commonwealth ...

in Sagami Wan, 28 August 1945, preparing for the formal Japanese surrender. Nearest ship is . is just beyond, with further in. is in far center distance.

Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano located on the Japanese island of Honshu, with a summit elevation of . It is the highest mountain in Japan, the second-highest volcano on any Asian island (after Mount Kerinci on the Indonesian island of Sumatra), a ...

is in the background. Image:SC 212246 Surrender of Japan, Tokyo Bay, 2 September 1945.tif, Lieutenant General

, aboard USS ''Missouri'', corrects a signatory error in the Japanese Instrument of Surrender. US Colonel Sidney Mashbir and Japanese Foreign Minister

look on. Image:MissouriPlaque.png, Plaque over the door to the Captain's Cabin on board the ''Missouri'' marking the signing. Image:Surrender Plaque USS Missouri (BB-63).jpg, Plaque in the deck of the ''Missouri'' marking the location of the signing. Image:Missouri-flyover.jpg, A large formation of American planes over USS ''Missouri'' and Tokyo Bay celebrating the signing, 2 September 1945. Image:USS Missouri Tokyo Bay.jpg, Photo taken from an airplane flying over USS ''Missouri''. is alongside.

Notes

References

External links

National Archives & Records Administration Featured Document

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20051125131001/http://alsos.wlu.edu/qsearch.aspx?browse=warfare%2FJapanese+Surrender Alsos Digital Library bibliography of references on Japan's surrender* {{DEFAULTSORT:Japanese Instrument Of Surrender 1945 in Japan 1945 documents Aftermath of World War II in Japan Australia–Japan military relations Canada–Japan relations China–Japan relations France–Japan relations Japan in World War II Japan–Netherlands relations Japan–New Zealand relations Japan–Soviet Union relations Japan–United Kingdom military relations Japan–United States military relations Occupied Japan September 1945 in Asia Surrender of Japan Instrument of Surrender World War II documents Tokyo in World War II

Preparation

Surrender ceremony

Flags at the ceremony

Differences between versions

Current locations

Gallery

See also

Post-war

Other Axis

Notes

References

External links