A picture coding method for preventing occurrence of a malfunction includes: an adding step (Step S203) of coding a memory management command for the first picture of a predetermined picture number and adding the coded command to the second picture that is different from the first picture; and a re-adding step (Steps S205 to S208) of coding the memory management command again and re-adding re-coded command to the section other than the second picture in a coded picture stream VSt. In the re-adding step, re-addition of the memory management command is prohibited when the first picture is not immediately previous in coding order among the pictures of the predetermined picture number included in the coded picture stream VSt. <IMAGE>