In order to investigate the antioxidant activity of phenolic compounds contained in domestic Meju and Doenjang , the methanolic extract from defatted Meju and Doenjang was fractionated into the phenolic acid and the isoflavone fractions by alumina column and polyamide-6 column chromatography, respectively. Both phenolic acid and isoflavone fractions exhibited an identical antioxidative effect against the oxidation of linoleic acid. GC analysis revealed that the phenolic acid fractio contained vanillic , chlorogenic ,p-coumalic , ferulic, and caffeine acid. The content of caffic acid was greater than 70% in the phenolic acid fraction and the content of vanillic and chlorogenic acids were disappeared during fermentation, and thus, the facts are thought to be reasons for the low antioxidant activity of the phenolic aicd fraction from Doenjang. Similarly, the isoflavone fraction cotained daidzin, glycitin-65-0 glucosider and genistin and their aglycons such as daidzein, glyciten and genistein. The content of daidzin and genistin in Meju dramatically decreased at the early stage of fermentation ,whereas the content of daidzein an dgenistein rather increased ; however, these change in isoflavone contents did not affect the antioxidant activity of isoflavone fractions.