A data holding apparatus of the present invention is a data holding apparatus a data holding apparatus used for image processing in which an image is coded or decoded, on a macroblock basis, based on a field structure or a frame structure selected on a macroblock pair basis. This data holding apparatus includes: a current register which holds a parameter set of a current macroblock to be coded or decoded; and registers which respectively hold parameter sets of macroblocks having neighboring relationships with a current macroblock, and at least one of the registers selectively holds, in sequence, parameter sets of respective different macroblocks having the neighboring relationships, one parameter set at a time.