To provide a bill counter improved in efficiency of counting operation by recirculating and reidentifying a bill having an ambiguous denomination or difficult to authenticate.

The bill counter 1 comprises a hopper 2, a separation part 3, a carrying part 4, an identification part 5, pockets 6-1 to 6-4, a rejector pocket 6-5, guide parts 7-1 to 7-5, diverters 8-1 to 8-5, a recirculation part 9, and a control part 10. The recirculation part 9 returns a bill P which arrived at the bottom of the carrying part 4 to the upstream side of the carrying part 4. The control part 10 accumulates, when the identification part 5 identifies the bill P to be a desired bill, the bill P in the pocket 6-1 to 6-4 corresponding to the denomination thereof, and accumulates the bill P in the reject pocket 6-5 when it is an unnecessary bill. The control part 10 opens all the diverters 8-1 to 8-5 when the identification part 5 cannot identify whether the bill P is the desired bill or not, and returns the bill P again to the carrying part 4 using the recirculation part 9.