Method for manufacturing bent optical fiber

Provided is a method for manufacturing bent optical fibers with which bent optical fibers having a quality difference effectively reduced can be manufactured without a reduction of the manufacturing yield. In the present embodiment, an elastic bending process and a heating process are alternately repeated. In the elastic bending process, a movement restricting member rotatable around a revolving shaft is rotated while an optical fiber having its leading end portion held by the movement restricting member is fed toward the revolving shaft to form bent portions at a part of the optical fiber. In the heating process, the optical fiber is irradiated with a laser beam to relieve stress at the bent portions. Thus, multiple bent portions at which the stress is relieved are formed in the optical fiber along the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber.