An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material, includes a rotatable image bearing member; a developing member for developing a latent image formed on the image bearing member; a cleaning blade for removing a developer from the image bearing member, the cleaning blade being cooperative with the image bearing member to form a nip in which the cleaning blade is contacted to the image bearing member within a predetermined area; and a controller for executing a first step of stopping rotation of the image bearing member after completion of an image forming operation for forming an image on the recording material; a second step of rotating, after the first step, the image bearing member through a predetermined peripheral distance in a rotational direction which is the same as a direction in which the image bearing member is rotated during the image forming operation; a third step of rotating, after the second step, the image bearing member in a rotational direction which is opposite the direction in which the image bearing member is rotated during the image forming operation; and a fourth step of stopping rotation of the image bearing member after the third step.