Provided are: an optical waveguide inspection method in which the time required to position an image capturing element when capturing an image of emitted light can be reduced; and an optical waveguide manufacturing method using same. In the optical waveguide inspection method according to the present invention, the position of a light emission unit (a connection surface 7c) of an optical waveguide is detected by a position detector such as a laser displacement meter (30), and on the basis of the position information of the light emission unit, a camera 20 is positioned at a place at which an image capturing element of the camera 20 is focused on the light emission unit. Then, light L that has traveled from a light incident unit of the optical waveguide to a core 7 is emitted from the light emission unit, and the emitted light L is captured by the image capturing element of the camera 20. Subsequently, the state of the core 7 (for example, light propagation properties, dimensions, inclination angle of a light reflection surface, or the like) is inspected by analyzing the captured image of the emitted light L. Also, the inspection is deemed to have passed if the state of the inspected core 7 meets predetermined criteria.