A mechanical pencil having a rotational drive mechanism which gradually rotates a writing lead on application of writing pressure and allowing rotational operation of the writing lead to be known reliably. First and second cam faces 6a and 6b are respectively formed at one end face and the other end face of a rotor 6 in an axial direction, and first and second fixed cam faces 13a and 14a arranged on the body cylinder side so as to respectively face the first and the second cam faces are provided to form the rotational drive mechanism for the writing lead. A plurality of grooves 8a in the axial direction are formed at a slider 8 of a pipe end 7 which projects forwardly from a body cylinder 1. Therefore, the user can see the grooves 8a (provided for the slider 8) rotated by rotation. of the rotor 6.