Soda-anthraquinone (soda-AQ) cooking focused on obtaining lignin rather than cellulose, was performed under various cooking conditions. The lignin obtained by acidification of the spent liquor to pH 5 was chemically characterized and the correlation between the cooking conditions and the chemical properties of lignin was discussed. The phenolic hydroxyl group content of the lignin was about twice of that of wood lignin and similar to that of commercial pine kraft lignin. The non-phenolic α-O-4 linkage of the lignin was more stable than the non-phenolic β-O-4 linkage of the lignin under soda-AQ cooking.