According to one embodiment, a sanitary washing apparatus includes a nozzle including a jetting port and configured to squirt water from the jetting port and to cause the water to impinge on female private parts. The nozzle is operable to switch between a first jetting and a second jetting. The first jetting squirts the water from the jetting port to cause the water to impinge on a first range of the female private parts, and the second jetting squirts the water from the jetting port more diffusively than the first jetting to cause the water to impinge evenly on a second range wider than the first range without moving the jetting port. The water is squirted so that flow velocity in the first range of the first jetting is slower than flow velocity in the second range of the second jetting.