To provide a press die in which the clearances between the die bodies and a punch are reducible without loading the punch and the die bodies.

In the press die 1 which includes the punch 11 on an upper die 10 and which includes a pad 22 which is opposed to the underside of the punch 11 and a pair of die bodies 21, 21 which are situated on both sides of the pad 22 and opposed to both side faces of the punch 11 on a lower die 20, and with which a press formed article 5 having a U-shaped cross section is formed from a metal plate 30 by forming the web faces 51 of the press formed article 5 between the underside of the punch 11 and the pad 22 and also forming the flange faces 52 between both side faces of the punch 11 and the inner side faces of the die bodies 21 by pressing the metal plate 30 with the punch 11 so as to touch the pad 22, a clearance reducing/eliminating means 40 for keeping the clearance to the side faces of the punch 11 not larger than the thickness of the metal plate 30 when forcing the metal plate and also for increasing the clearance when the punch 11 is lifted is provided on the inner side faces of the die bodies 21.