ABSTRACT:Cases from the past 25 years of 143 students who committed suicide at Kyoto University, a “name university” in Japan since 1956, were investigated retrospectively. Then the total trends of the suicide rate were reexamined in comparison with a control group, and the recent trends after the student strife (1970) were confirmed in comparison with the 15‐year period before the strife. Thus, using a longer time span, the total pattern of suicide could be reidentified as the “performance type” within an “achievement‐oriented culture.” Seemingly healthy students from normal homes have suddenly committed suicide in this recent “pupa within a cocoon” syndrome, resulting from “unbalanced personality development” in the context of moder