The present invention relates to a negative electrode material for secondary batteries, comprising graphite; wherein the graphite comprises hexagonal crystal graphite and rhombohedral crystal graphite, and has a low-crystalline carbon coating on a surface thereof; and the graphite has exothermic peaks in the range of 600° C. or lower and in the range of 690° C. or higher in DTA measurement, or the graphite has a full width at half maximum of a (101) peak of the hexagonal crystal graphite of 0.2575° or less in XRD measurement, or the graphite has an absolute value of the difference between the lattice strain obtained from (101) plane spacing of the hexagonal crystal graphite and the lattice strain obtained from (100) plane spacing of the hexagonal crystal graphite of 7.1×10−4 or less in XRD measurement.