We report a case of an esophageal schwannoma which is comparatively rare. A 60-year-old man visited a local physician because of epigastralgia and heartburn. Upper GI series showed a filling defect of the esophagus and he was referred to our hospital. Gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed a submucosal tumor with smooth surface in the lower thoracic esophagus. Chest computed tomography revealed an 85×50mm tumor without contrast enhancement. Endoscopic ultrasonography-guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) to make the definite diagnosis was planned at another hospital, but the patient hoped to undergo an early operation. Therefore we performed surgery with a diagnosis of submucosal tumor. A 10-cm tumor was found at the lower esophagus. The tumor had not invaded the surroundings but enucleation of the tumor was difficult. Lower esophagectomy was thus done. The resected tumor was 100 × 58 × 65 mm in size and the section revealed a yellowish-white solid tumor. Microscopically, the tumor consisted of many spindle-shaped cells. Immunohistochemically the cells were positive for S-100, but negative for SMA, c-kit, CD-34 and DOG-1. From these findings we diagnosed the tumor as benign schwannoma. Esophageal schwannoma is rare, so we report this case with some literature review.