To surely recognize a written character, while shortening the processing time.

A handwritten character recognition device 2 is equipped with a CIS 3 which reads a handwritten character, a character-processing means 41 which processes the read character to derive a characteristic value of the character, a storage means 43 which stores characteristic values by characters, and a character-recognizing means 42 which compares the characteristic value of the handwritten character derived by the means 41 with the characteristic values stored in the storage means 43, in order to recognize the handwritten character from the matching level between both the characteristic values.