An encoding apparatus includes a processor that calculates and stores, an evaluation value for each candidate vector, based on a given block to be encoded among blocks formed by dividing an image, and a reference block on a reference image represented by each candidate vector that is a candidate motion vector of the given block; identifies an evaluation value of a first candidate motion vector of the given block, based on the stored evaluation values; calculates an evaluation value of a second candidate motion vector, based on the evaluation value of each candidate vector and the second candidate motion vector selected for the given block from among motion vectors of blocks adjacent to the given block; and determines the first or the second candidate motion vector to be the motion vector of the given block, based on the respective evaluation values of the first and the second candidate motion vectors.