In order to make a detailed investigation on the hydrogenolysis of Hokkaido coals which have their special characteristics in the initial steps of the reaction, a batch autoclave study was made on the kinetics of the hydrogenolysis of seven Hokkaido coals of different ranks. The reaction rate was measured under rate controlling reaction conditions. The difference in coal hydrogenolysis reactivity was investigated quantitatively in relation to the various structural indices of the sample coals. It was concluded that (1) the hydrogenolysis reaction of seven Hokkaido coals consisted of two steps: the rate of reaction in the first step was high while in the second step was low, and both reactions are of a first order with respect to coal remaining, (2) the reaction occurred for seven Hokkaido coals may be represented schematically as follows: Coal Oil(S1) Asphaltene Oil(S2) (3) the rate constants of reaction in the first step decrease with increasing rank of coals, and are closely correlated with classification parameters (related to thermal reaction) such as fixed carbon content, volatile matter content and fuel ratio; on the other hand, the rate constants of the reaction in the second step may be considered to be correlated with the ether-oxygenbond in the remaining coal sample after removal of the constituents appeared in the reaction of the first step, and are not correlated with the rank of coals.