Most, if not all, Basidiomycetes mushrooms have biologically active polysaccharides showing potent antitumor activity with immunomodulating properties. These polysaccharides have various chemical compositions and belong primarily to the $eta$-glucan group. In this study, the crude water-soluble polysaccharide HEF-P, which was obtained from the fruiting body of Hericium erinaceus by hot water extraction and ethanol precipitation, was fractionated by DEAE-cellulose and Sepharose CL-6B column chromatographies. This process resulted in four polysaccharide fractions, named HEF-NP Fr I, HEF-NP Fr II, HEF-AP Fr I, and HEF-AP Fr II. Of these fractions, HEF-AP Fr II was able to upregulate the functional events mediated by activated macrophages, such as production of nitric oxide and expression ofcytokines (IL-1${eta}$ and TNF-${alpha}$). The molecular mass of HEF-AP Fr II was estimated by gel filtration to be 13 kDa. Its structural characteristics were investigated by a combination of chemical and instrumental analyses, including methylation, reductive cleavage, acetylation, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Results indicate that HEF-AP Fr II is a low-molecular-mass polysaccharide with a laminarin-like triple helix conformation of a ${eta}$-1,3-branched-${eta}$-1,6-glucan.