Provided is an endoscope which suppresses the occurrence of anisotropy in the bending hardness of a flexible portion. A flexible portion (16c) of the endoscope includes a tightly wound coil spring (52) and a hardness varying wire (53). The hardness of the tightly wound coil spring (52) is increased by applying a compressive force to the tightly wound coil spring (52). A tip portion (52a) of the tightly wound coil spring (52) is attached to a base end piece (40B) via a connecting member (54) and a plate spring (55). When the flexible portion (16c) is in a straight state, the plate spring (55) is attached in a state of having deflection. The tightly wound coil spring (52) which is bent along with the flexible portion (16c) moves toward a tip side against an elastic force of the plate spring (55), and returns to its original position due to the elastic force of the plate spring (55) when the flexible portion (16c) returns to the straight state from a bent state.
