A carbon material for bearings includes a porous carbon base material and an impregnation material. The impregnation material is made of resin or metal, and with which the carbon base material is impregnated. The carbon material for bearings includes a plurality of pores. When a pore distribution in the carbon material for bearings is measured by a mercury penetration method using a mercury porosity meter, a cumulative pore volume of pores having a diameter larger than 0.1 µm is not more than 8 mm 3 /g.