PURPOSE: To provide a tension meter which is capable of detecting purely tension only almost without being subject to the effect of frictional force by adopting a free supporting system which is supported on bearing or sliding bearing in stead of the two-point supporting system for a specimen to be measured.

CONSTITUTION: A cylindrical main body 41 is formed as one body with a lever 14 on which the finger of a person who makes measurement holds and arms 47 for bearing rotating shafts 17. A compressed spring 35 is placed in the hollow bore 60 of the cylindrical main body 41, and it is engaged on the flange 45 of an operating shaft 13 that pierces through the main body 41. When a cylindrical body 38 moves up and down during the measurement of tension, a rack 22 fixed on a shaft 28 that is one body with the cylindrical body 38 moves up and down, rotating a pointer indicating tensional force through a pinion 22 that meshes with the rack 22. The pointer gives the reading of a sought tension value.