This study was performed to investigate the changes of amino nitrogen, total amino acids, free amino acids, and color of Korean traditional soy sauce (kan-jang) during the ripening and storage for 12 months and the characteristics of the changes. All of the preparation methods for soy sauce followed the recommendations of the Korea Food Research Institute. The components of soy sauce were analyzed at 0,6, and 12 months. The contents of amino nitrogen of soy sauce were significantly higher than that of soybeans or meju (soybean cakes) at the initial stage of storage (p<0.05), and decreased during the storage. The content of total amino acids of soybean sauce was significantly lower than that of soybeans, and the content of free amino acids was higher than that of soybeans (p<0.05). The contents of total and free amino acids decreased in soy sauce after 12 months of storage (p<0.05). The composition of total and free amino acids and their ratios of soy sauce were changed during the storage. The ratios of free to total amino acids of soybeans, meju, and soy sauce were 0.8％, 17.3％, and 53.1-59.8％, respectively. Glutamic acid, which represents the savory taste, was detected the most abundantly in soy sauce during the storage. The ratios of free to total amino acids of glutamic acid were 42.9-59.5％ in soy sauce. Lightness of Hunter color of soy sauce decreased over time (p<0.05). This study indicates that the ratios of free to total amino acids of soy sauce were much higher than those of soybeans, although its contents of total amino acids were much lower than those of soybeans. This study also indicates that this comes from the preparation and fermentation of meju. It was suspected that the organoleptic characteristics of soy sauce derived from the amino nitrogen, amino acids, and color might be inferior over 1 year of storage time. However, more detailed research should be conducted to interpretate this characteristics more accurately.