To make it possible to polish the connecting end face of an optical fiber with high quality and high accuracy by freely fitting the optical fiber exposed of a coated fiber ribbon by removing the coating at the end into the insertion hole of an optical fiber holder and pressing the end face of the optical fiber and the end face of the holder to a polishing medium respectively under prescribed pressures, then polishing the end face.

The optical fiber 11 exposed with the coated optical fiber ribbon 15 by removing the coating at the end is loosely inserted into the insertion hole 12 of the optical fiber holder 13. The base part side of the coated optical fiber ribbon 15 is temporally fixed to a coated fiber holder 30. Next, a cylinder 28 of a stopper 29 is withdrawn and a supporting body 21 is pulled by a weight 24 and is moved toward the polishing medium 14 on a rail 22, by which the end face of the optical fiber holder 13 is pressed to the polishing medium 14. The cylinder 38 of the stopper 39 is then withdrawn and the supporting body 31 is pulled by the weight 34 and is moved toward the polishing medium 14 on a rail 32, by which the end face of the optical fiber 11 temporally fixed to the coated fiber holder 30 is pressed to the polishing medium 14. The end face of the optical fiber 11 is polished by rotating the polishing medium 14.