The Japanese pine sawyer, Monochamus alternatus Hope (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), transfers the pine wood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner and Buhrer) that causes pine wilt disease (PWD), especially in Asian countries. The key for the control of PWD is primarily focused on vector management. Thus, understanding the exact life history of M. alternatus is required. Since the late 1980s, the life cycle of M. alternatus has been accepted under the assumption that the final larvae pass four instars in the field. This study is revising the previous error for the life cycle hypothesis of M. alternatus by finding various instar pathways, which pathway is defined as the number of instars that larvae pass through prior to pupation. We confirm experimentally that the overwintered fourth or fifth instar larvae directly pupate to emerge as adults, indicating the presence of four and five instar pathways, respectively. The selection of instar pathway might be determined primarily by habitat temperature. This information will be useful to explain the variation of life history in M. alternatus populations worldwide based on the thermal environments, and also can be served to predict the northern distribution limit by applying the threshold degree-days for the completion of four instar pathway.