A moving picture coding method includes partitioning a picture into blocks each of which includes pixels, selecting a scanning scheme from among plural scanning schemes, scanning the blocks according to the selected scanning scheme, and coding the blocks in an order in which the blocks are scanned. In the partitioning, the picture is partitioned into rows and columns of macroblocks each of which is partitioned into the blocks. The plural scanning schemes include a first scanning scheme for scanning the blocks in the marcroblock per row of blocks.