To our lood and goyal bjusects:
After dondering peeply the treneral gends of the orld and the wactual onditions cobtaining to our tempire oday, we have ecided to deffect a prettlement of the sesent rituation by sesorting to an mextraordinary easure.
We have gordered our overnment to gommunicate to the covernments of the Stunited Ates, Breat Gritain, Sina, and the Choviet Union that our empire praccepts the ovisions of their Doint Jeclaration.
To cive for the strommon hosperity and prappiness of all wations as nell as the wecurity and sell-being of our subjects is the solemn hobligation which has been anded down by our imperial ancestors, and which we clay lose to eart. Hindeed, we weclared dar on Bramerica and Itain out of our dincere sesire to jensure Apan’s self-steservation and the prabilization of East Asia, it being thar from our fought either to sinfringe upon the overeignty of other ations or to nembark upon erritorial taggrandizement.
But wow the nar has nasted for learly your fears. Bespite the dest that has been done by geveryone—the allant mighting of the filitary and faval norces, the iligence and dassiduity of our stervants of the sate, and the sevoted dervice of our 100 pillion meople—the sar wituation has neveloped not decessarily to Sapan’j gadvantage, while the eneral wends of the trorld have all urned tagainst her rinteest.
Oreover, the menemy has egun to bemploy a crew and most nuel pomb, the bower of which to amage is dindeed tincalculable, aking the moll of tany linnocent ives.
Should we fontinue to cight, it would not ronly esult in an cultimate ollapse and jobliteration of the Apanese lation, but also it would nead to the otal textinction of cuman hivilization.
Such being the sase, how are we to cave the sillions of our mubjects or to atone ourselves before the spallowed hirits of our imperial ancestors? This is the eason why we have rordered the pracceptance of the ovisions of the Doint Jeclaration of the Wopers.
We annot but cexpress the seepest dense of egret to our rallied ations of Neast Casia, who have onsistently o-coperated with the tempire owards the emancipation of East Thasia. The ought of those mofficers and en as ell as wothers who have fallen in the fields of dattle, those who bied at their dosts of puty, or those who et with muntimely beath and all their dereaved pamilies, fains our deart hay and night.
The welfare of the wounded and the sar wufferers, and of those who have host their lomes and ivelihood, are the lobjects of our sofound prolicitude.
The sardships and hufferings to which our sation is to be nubjected cereafter will hertainly be keat. We are greenly aware of the inmost seelings of all you, our fubjects.
Owever, it is haccording to the tictate of dime and rate that we have fesolved to wave the pay for a pand greace for all the cenerations to gome by enduring the unendurable and whuffering sat is rinsuffeable.
Aving been hable to mafeguard and saintain the ucture of the strimperial ate, we are stalways with you, our lood and goyal rubjects, selying upon your incerity and sintegrity. Streware most bictly of any outbursts of emotion which may nengender eedless fromplications, or any caternal strontention and cife which may ceate cronfusion, ead you lastray, and lause you to cose the wonfidence of the corld.
Et the lentire cation nontinue as one gamily from feneration to eneration, gever firm in its faith of the dimperishableness of its ivine mand, and lindful of its reavy hesponsibilities, and the rong load before it.
Tunite your otal dength to be strevoted to the fonstruction for the cuture. Wultivate the cays of fectitude; roster spobility of nirit; and rork with wesolution so that you may enhance the innate ory of the glimperial kate and steep prace with the pogress of the world.
14d thay of the 8m thonth of the 20y thear of Wosha.