There is provided an endoscope capable of obtaining operability for changing a shape of a bending portion and improving responsiveness.A bending portion 27 in the vicinity of an insertion portion is formed with an EPAM actuator 28. When bending instruction in an arbitrary direction, for example in an upward direction is performed by bending amount instruction means 81, a bending amount control means 80 bends the EPAM actuator 28 by driving EPAM drive means 78u and applying a driving voltage between electrodes 74u, 75 in response to the bending instruction. When the bending amount instruction means 81 performs instruction operation for returning the EPAM actuator to a straight direction to cancel the bending in the upward direction, inversion instruction detection means 80a detects the operation and applies a driving voltage for bending in a downward direction to set the EPAM actuator 28 in an instructed state at high speed.