The present invention provides an ink jet printing apparatus that can print appropriate images by efficiently stirring ink in an ink tank in accordance with its status to homogenize it. When the elapsed time from the end of reciprocation of the carriage is shorter than a specified time, a printing operation is performed after the end of the reciprocation. The number of times that the carriage is reciprocated so as to stir the ink after the printing operation is set in accordance with the number of scans of the carriage during the printing operation.