Four saponins (1~4) were isolated from Akebia quinata pericarp through bioassay-guided fractionation. Pericarps of A. quinata were extracted with ethanol and sequentially fractionated with dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, butanol and water. Compounds 1~4 from the butanol fraction were identified as 3-O-${alpha}$-L-arabinopyranosyl hederagenin (${delta}$-hederin), 3-O-${alpha}$-L-rhamnopyranosyl (1${ ightarrow}$2) ${alpha}$-L-arabinopyranoly oleanolic acid (${eta}$-hederin), 3-O-${eta}$-D-xylopyranosyl (1${ ightarrow}$3) ${alpha}$-L-arabinopyranosyl hederagenin (saponin C), and 3-O ${alpha}$-L-rhamnopyranosyl (1${ ightarrow}$2) ${alpha}$-L-arabinopyranosyl hederagenin (${alpha}$-hederin) based on the spectroscopic evidences, respectively. Oleanolic acid and hederagenin were identified as the corresponding sapogenins by acid-hydrolysis. These compounds exhibited strong cytotoxic activity in MTS [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxy-methoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H- tetrazolium, inner salt] assay on HepG2 cells. ${eta}$-Hederin obviously attenuated the expression of bcl-2, an anti-apoptotic protein. All of the compounds also induced the activity of caspase-3, an apoptotic enzyme, while ${alpha}$-hederin was the most potent activator of the enzyme. Our data demonstrate for the first time the apoptosis-inducing activity of A. quinata. These results suggest that A. quinata could be used as a potential source of natural cancer chemopreventive agents.