The present invention provides an aqueous ink containing a dispersion in which a colorant is encapsulated with a polymer to make it dispersible in water, wherein the polymer has aromatic rings in an amount of from 20% by weight to 70% by weight based on the weight of the polymer, and further, the ink contains a compound represented by the following formula: wherein R represents a bivalent organic group, PO represents a propyleneoxy group, EO represents an ethyleneoxy group, x, y, a and b are each the number of repeating units, x represents a number of 1 to 200, y represents a number of 1 to 50, a represents a number of 1 to 30, and b represents a number of 0 to 20.