In this paper, we propose a fast hierarchical image segmentation using mathematical morphology. The proposed segmentation method is composed of five basic steps; multi-thresholding, open-close by reconstructing, mode operation, marker extraction, and region decision. In the multi-thresholding, an input image is simplified by Lloyd clustering algorithm. The multi-thresholded image then is more simplified by open-close by reconstruction and mode operating. In the region decision, to which region each uncertainty pixel belongs finally is decided by a watershed algorithm. Experimental results show that the quality of the segmentation results by the proposed method is not inferior to that by the conventional method and the average times elapsed by the proposed method can be reduced by one tghird of those elapsed by the conventional method.