To provide the image processing unit and the image processing method by which reproduction of a part other than an inhibition image can be performed, even when the image includes the inhibited image.

Various image processings to image data, input at an image input section 1, are performed at an image processing section 4, and the processed image is stored in an image storage section 5; whereas an inhibited image recognizing section 3 performs recognition processing of the inhibited image to the inputted image data, and the image input section 1 informs the image storage section 5 of the recognition result. For example, when a plurality of image data are combined at the image storage section 5, tag information, denoting the inclusion of the inhibited image, is added to only the area of image data including the inhibited image and the image data is output to the image processing section 4. Thus, in the image processing section 4, prescribed processings to the inhibited image are performed, to only the area of the image data that includes the inhibition image, and prescribed processings for the other area are not performed. Thus, an image output section 2 forms, in a normal manner, an image for the image data part that does not contain the inhibited image.