Endoscope

An endoscope, comprising:

• a bending portion provided on a distal end side of an insertion section that extends from a hand side toward a distal end;
• a signal line of an image pickup unit that is inserted into the insertion section;
• a wire conduit inserted into the insertion section, and including a drive wire, the drive wire being inserted into the wire conduit and being advanced and retracted in an axial direction to drive an optical system of the image pickup unit;
• and
• a protective member provided to cover an outer circumference of the wire conduit, wherein
• the signal line and the wire conduit are disposed to overlap and intersect with each other in a radial direction in a bending tube configuring the bending portion,
• the wire conduit is disposed close to a center in the bending tube, on a side closer to a proximal end side than a region where the wire conduit and the signal line intersect with each other, and
• the protective member is removed from a partial region that includes the region where the wire conduit and the signal line intersect with each other.