A study on the rapid fermentation of fish sauce has been carried out for effective utilization of sardine. The frozen sardine was thawed at room temperature, chopped, homogenized with equal amount of water and then hydrolyzed by addition of commercial proteolytic enzymes such as bromelain, papaya protease, ficin and a enzyme mixture under different conditions of hydrolysis. The effect of wheat gluten for masking fishy odor and color development during thermal treatment were also tested. The reaction mixture was heated for 30 minutes at $100^{circ}C$ for enzyme inactivation, pasteurization and color development and then centrifuged for 20 minutes at 4,000 rpm. Finally, table salt and benzoic acid were added for bacteriostatic effect. The results were summarized as follows ; 1. The hydrolyzing temperature, time, pH and the concentration of enzymes based on the weight of whole sardine for optimal hydrolysis were as follows: autolysis, $52.5^{circ}C$, 4 hours, pH 8.0: with $0.25\%$ bromelain, $52.5^{circ}C$, 4 hours, pH 6.6 :with $0.25\%$ ficin, $52.5^{circ}C$, 4 hours, pH 6.8: with $0.3\%$ papaya protease, $52.5^{circ}C$, 4 hours, pH 6.6: with $6\%$ enzyme mixture, $52.5^{circ}C$, 4 hours, pH 6.9, respectively. But pH control was not much beneficial in increasing yield. 2. The hydrolytic reaction of chopped sardine with proteolytic enzymes could be interpreted as a first order reaction that devided into 2 periods with different reaction rate constsnts. $Q_{10}$ values of the first period prior to 4 hours were 1.23 to 1.31, and those of post 4 hours were 1.25 to 1.55. The corresponding activation energies were $1.81{ imes}10^4;to;2.34{ imes}10^4;kJ/kmol$ and $1.92{ imes}10^4;to;3.77{ imes}10^4;kJ/kmol$, respectively. 3. The reasonable amount of $75\%$ vital wheat gluten for addition was $9\%$ of chopped sardine. 4. The dark brown color was mainly developed during the thermal treatment for 30 minutes at $100^{circ}C$ and not changed during storage.