Abstract: In place of gelatin conventionally used as a material for shaping hard medicinal capsules, the invention proposes a hard capsule for medicinal use shaped of a polymer blend of a water-soluble cellulose ether, e.g., alkyl cellulose, hydroxyalkyl cellulose and alkyl hydroxyalkyl cellulose, and a polyvinyl alcohol in a weight ratio of 70:30 to 98:2. The inventive hard medicinal capsules have remarkably low permeability to oxygen and moisture with little influences on the medicament contained therein along with sufficiently high mechanical strengths and are much more stable than conventional gelatin-made capsules against the influences of the ambient conditions, such as, the crack formation unavoidable in a gelatin-made hard capsule when it is kept under an extremely low humidity.