1. A handwritten character recognition method by which an online handwritten character is recognized, characterized by: capturing an input handwritten character with parameter representation for each stroke and applying a polygonal approximation to each stroke; assuming each polygonal line segment approximated by said polygonal approximation to be a vector that reaches an end point from a start point, and obtaining an angle between an axis that becomes a reference and said each line segment as a polygonal line segment angle sequence; obtaining an exterior angle sequence of vertices of the obtained polygonal line segments; making a sum of exterior angles of the same sign, where the same sign of plus or minus in said exterior angle sequence continues, to be a winding angle sequence; extracting a global feature according to said each obtained sequence and a localized or quasi-localized feature in each curved portion divided corresponding to said winding angle sequence, hierarchically and divisionally; and performing the character recognition by comparing the extracted result with a template of an object character for recognition that is provided in advance.