To prepare oligouronic acids from high-molecular-weight alginates, sea tangle Laminaria japonicus alginates were hydrolyzed at $80^{circ}C$ for various hydrolysis times (HT). The effects of hydrolysis time on the distribution ratios (DR) of the molecular weights (MW) of the hydrolyzed alginates were in-vestigated. As HT increased, the DR of the alginates with MW>500 kDa decreased ex-ponentially, while those with MW=50-100 kDa or MW<50 kDa increased exponentially. For MW=300-500 kDa, DR increased exponentially until HT reached 60 min, and then decreased exponentially. Similarly, for MW=100-300 kDa, DR increased exponentially until HT reached 90 min, and then decreased.