A hardening method for an annular workpiece made of metal includes a heating process that heats the annular workpiece to a hardening temperature; an analyzing process that obtains a diameter of the annular workpiece heated to the hardening temperature, and divides the heated annular workpiece into at least a small diameter portion and a large diameter portion based on the obtained diameter; and a cooling process that injects cooling liquid under an injection condition toward the annular workpiece that has been divided into at least the large diameter portion and the small diameter portion in the analyzing process such that a dimensional difference between the large diameter portion and the small diameter portion decreases, the injection condition for the large diameter portion being different from the injection condition for the small diameter portion.