A paper-sheet recognition apparatus that recognizes a paper sheet, the paper-sheet recognition apparatus comprising: a paper-sheet information acquisition unit that acquires paper-sheet information including an image data of the paper sheet; a denomination recognition unit including a candidate narrowing-down unit (132a, 132b, 132c) that includes a shape judgment unit that narrows down a number of type candidates of the paper sheet to a small number of type candidates based on a shape of the paper sheet detected from the image data included in the paper-sheet information, a first simple judgment unit that narrows down the number of type candidates narrowed down by the shape judgment unit based on a feature of the paper sheet; and a second simple judgment unit that further narrows down the number of type candidates narrowed down by the first simple judgment unit; and a type determining unit that determines one type from the type candidates narrowed down by the first simple juggment unit based on the image data included in the paper-sheet information; the apparatus further comprising an authenticity recognition unit that recognizes authenticity of the paper sheet as to each of the type candidates narrowed down by the second simple judgment unit, characterized in that: the type determining unit and the authenticity recognition unit are operated concurrently, the paper-sheet recognition apparatus further comprises a final judgment unit that performs a final judgment on the paper sheet by combining the one type determined by the type determining unit and an authenticity recognition result corresponding to the one type from among authenticity recognition results of the type candidates recognized by the authenticity recognition unit, and the candidate narrowing-down unit (132a, 132b, 132c) acquires an amount of features acquired for each wavelength by irradiating the paper sheet with lights of different wavelengths, and narrows down the number of the type candidates of the paper sheet by comparing the amount of features acquired for each wavelength with an amount of features stored previously for each wavelength. a paper-sheet information acquisition unit that acquires paper-sheet information including an image data of the paper sheet; a denomination recognition unit including a candidate narrowing-down unit (132a, 132b, 132c) that includes a shape judgment unit that narrows down a number of type candidates of the paper sheet to a small number of type candidates based on a shape of the paper sheet detected from the image data included in the paper-sheet information, a first simple judgment unit that narrows down the number of type candidates narrowed down by the shape judgment unit based on a feature of the paper sheet; and a second simple judgment unit that further narrows down the number of type candidates narrowed down by the first simple judgment unit; and a shape judgment unit that narrows down a number of type candidates of the paper sheet to a small number of type candidates based on a shape of the paper sheet detected from the image data included in the paper-sheet information, a first simple judgment unit that narrows down the number of type candidates narrowed down by the shape judgment unit based on a feature of the paper sheet; and a second simple judgment unit that further narrows down the number of type candidates narrowed down by the first simple judgment unit; and a type determining unit that determines one type from the type candidates narrowed down by the first simple juggment unit based on the image data included in the paper-sheet information; the apparatus further comprising an authenticity recognition unit that recognizes authenticity of the paper sheet as to each of the type candidates narrowed down by the second simple judgment unit, characterized in that: the type determining unit and the authenticity recognition unit are operated concurrently, the paper-sheet recognition apparatus further comprises a final judgment unit that performs a final judgment on the paper sheet by combining the one type determined by the type determining unit and an authenticity recognition result corresponding to the one type from among authenticity recognition results of the type candidates recognized by the authenticity recognition unit, and the candidate narrowing-down unit (132a, 132b, 132c) acquires an amount of features acquired for each wavelength by irradiating the paper sheet with lights of different wavelengths, and narrows down the number of the type candidates of the paper sheet by comparing the amount of features acquired for each wavelength with an amount of features stored previously for each wavelength. the type determining unit and the authenticity recognition unit are operated concurrently, the paper-sheet recognition apparatus further comprises a final judgment unit that performs a final judgment on the paper sheet by combining the one type determined by the type determining unit and an authenticity recognition result corresponding to the one type from among authenticity recognition results of the type candidates recognized by the authenticity recognition unit, and the candidate narrowing-down unit (132a, 132b, 132c) acquires an amount of features acquired for each wavelength by irradiating the paper sheet with lights of different wavelengths, and narrows down the number of the type candidates of the paper sheet by comparing the amount of features acquired for each wavelength with an amount of features stored previously for each wavelength.