In a braille recognition system according to the present invention, light is obliquely irradiated onto the surface of a document in braille, and its reflected light is received by imaging means, to obtain a gray image. An image corresponding to a pattern of projected points on the document in braille is obtained on the basis of the obtained gray image. An image is then cut in braille units from the image corresponding to the pattern of projected points. A braille code is generated for each cut image in the braille unit.