Provided are a gear and a gear drive unit which allow oil film formation to a sufficient degree between tooth surfaces of gears rotating at high-speed and which help to prevent generation of pitting, abrasion, and prevent scoring, temperature rise, and wear to thereby achieve an improvement in terms of durability. A tooth surface is provided with a multitude of minute recesses arranged at random, in which an axial surface roughness parameter Ryni of the surface thus provided with the recesses is set to a range: 0.8 μm≦Ryni≦2.3 μm. As a result, the tooth surface is endowed with a high oil film formation performance, and it is possible to attain a long service life even under a low-viscosity/thin-lubrication condition in which the oil film is extremely thin.