When using a spectral endoscope, the spectral characteristic can be precisely set to be suitable for use conditions. There is provided a spectral endoscope (1) comprising: a channel (3) arranged along a longitudinal direction in an insertion unit to be inserted into a body cavity; an image pickup section (8) which captures an image in a vicinity of the distal end of the insertion unit (2); a variable spectral section (7) capable of changing the wavelength of light to be incident into the image pickup section (8); a reference light member (10) which emits light of a known wavelength characteristic, or has a known absorption characteristic, and is to be introduced into a field-of-view range of the image pickup section (8) through the channel (3); a control unit (11) which controls the image pickup section (8) to capture an image of the reference light member (10) that has been introduced through the channel (3), while controlling the variable spectral section (7) to change the wavelength of light to be incident into the image pickup section (8); and a calibration unit (12) which calibrates the spectral characteristic of the variable spectral section (7) according to the image of the reference light member (10) that has been captured by the image pickup section (8).