An image recording apparatus including a recording head in which a plurality of recording element assemblies are arrayed in x direction as a unit, the plurality of recording element assemblies each being equipped with an optical system for forming a light beam and focusing the light beam to the recording surface of an image recording medium, wherein the recording head and image recording medium are relatively moved in y direction that intersects the x direction substantially at a right angle with respect thereto, to thereby record an image onto the image recording surface, the image recording apparatus includes: mark reading means that is disposed adjacent to the recording head and that reads a positioning mark provided on the image recording medium, wherein, while the image recording medium is moved in the y direction, reading of the mark by the mark reading means and recording of the image by the recording head are executed, and the mark reading means estimates in advance the deformation of the mark that occurs as a result of reading performed during the movement of the image recording medium and recognizes the relative position of the image recording medium with respect to the recording head on the basis of set position data of the positioning mark of which deformation has been estimated and the position data of the positioning mark that has been read.