An ink jet recording head includes a large nozzle array including a plurality of ejection outlets for ejecting ink and a small nozzle array including a plurality of ejection outlets, each having an opening area smaller than an opening area of ejection outlets of the large nozzle array. The ink jet recording head is mountable to an ink jet recording apparatus which is capable of causing the ink jet recording head to eject ink for a purpose of maintenance of the ink jet recording head without image formation on a recording material, the large nozzle array is supplied with light ink such as yellow, light cyan or light magenta ink, and the small nozzle array is supplied with dark ink such as cyan, magenta or black ink. The number of ejections of the dark ink is greater than the number of ejections of the light ink.