PURPOSE: To obtain the subject ink containing a pigment, water, a water-soluble polymer, and a hydrophilic monomer-oleophilic monomer copolymer, little in the scattering of the ink and not clogging a nozzle with time.

CONSTITUTION: This ink contains at least (A) a pigment (e.g. carbon black, an inorganic pigment, an organic pigment), (B) water, (C) one or more kinds selected from guar gum, xanthane gum and their derivatives, and (D) the copolymer of an oleophilic monomer (e.g. styrene, methylstyrene or acrylonitrile) with a hydrophilic monomer (e.g. acrylic acid or methacrylic acid). The ink is used for an ink jet recording style for recording information by giving an energy corresponding to a recording signal to the ink stored in a recording head chamber to fly ink drops with the energy.