The present invention provides an ink composition comprising at least a pigment, a polymer which encapsulates the pigment to make the pigment dispersible in the ink composition, a multivalent metal ion and water, wherein the polymer is a vinyl polymer obtained by polymerizing: A) at least one specific vinyl monomer, B) a monomer having a salt-forming group, C) a macromer having a number average molecular weight of 500 to 500,000, and D) a monomer copolymerizable with the monomers A), B) and C), and wherein the content of the multivalent metal ion is from 3 to 500 ppm based on the total amount of the ink composition. Also disclosed are an ink jet recording method using the ink composition and recorded matter obtained by the ink jet recording method.