A radio communication device includes a reception unit for receiving a route request message from another radio communication device, a route control message processing unit for judging whether the received route request message is addressed to itself or not, a route request message management unit for deciding a delay amount for delaying response transmission or relay forwarding with regard to the route request message according to an operating state of the radio communication device when the route request message is not addressed to itself, and a delay processing unit which performs response transmission or relay forwarding to the route request message when the delay amount time has expired. Thus, a route selected giving preference to radio communication devices having a preferable operating state can be obtained.