An arithmetic decoding method is a method in which a context variable specifying a probability of a possible value of each of elements included in a binary string corresponding to a value of a given variable is initialized and arithmetic decoding is performed, using the context variable. The method includes: determining, from among a plurality of initialization methods as a method of initializing the context variable, an initialization method corresponding to the given variable or a group which includes the given variable; and initializing the context variable using the determined initialization method.