PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an endoscope which appropriately performs bending operation even when a bending portion is moved to bend with a small amount of movements.SOLUTION: The endoscope includes an insertion portion having the bendable bending portion and a bending operation portion provided on a side toward a proximal end rather than the insertion portion for performing bending operation of the bending portion by moving the bending operation portion from a reference position. In addition, the endoscope includes a movement speed determining portion which determines the moving speed of the bending movements of the bending portion in a manner to be proportional to the amount of displacement of the bending operation portion from the reference position, a driving member for moving the bending portion to bend by being driven by the bending operation at the bending operation portion, and a driving control portion for controlling to drive the driving member based on the moving speed determined by the movement speed determining portion.COPYRIGHT: (C)2013,JPO&INPIT【課題】湾曲部を小さい動作量で湾曲動作させる場合にも、適切に湾曲操作が行われる内視鏡を提供すること。【解決手段】内視鏡は、湾曲可能な湾曲部を備える挿入部と、前記挿入部より基端方向側に設けられ、基準位置から移動させることにより、前記湾曲部の湾曲操作が行われる湾曲操作部と、を備える。また、内視鏡は、前記湾曲操作部の前記基準位置からの変位量に対して比例する状態に、前記湾曲部の湾曲動作の動作速度を決定する動作速度決定部と、前記湾曲操作部での前記湾曲操作によって駆動されることにより、前記湾曲部を湾曲動作させる駆動部材と、前記動作速度決定部によって決定された前記動作速度に基づいて、前記駆動部材を駆動制御する駆動制御部と、を備える。【選択図】図2
