To prevent occurrence of printing irregularities, and also, make printing speed of printing paper higher.

A thermal head printer includes a loading part 3 onto which rolled printing paper is loaded; a conveying part 4 to feed and convey the printing paper; a cutter mechanism part 7 including a cutter that cuts the printing paper; an ejecting part 21 to which the printing paper is ejected; a ribbon driving part 6 including a ribbon tray 22, a supply reel 23 and a take-up reel 24; a printing head 5a that is pressed to the ink ribbon to perform printing with respect to the printing paper; wherein a tension imparting part 25 is disposed between the supply reel and the take-up real in the ribbon driving part, and is configured to impart force in a direction repulsive to the pressing direction of the printing head to the ink ribbon when the printing head is pressed to the ink ribbon and thereby the force in a direction in which the ink ribbon is drawn out from the supply reel is imparted to the ink ribbon.