Abstract. For a prime number p and a number field k, let A∞ denote the projective limit of the p-parts of the ideal class groups of the intermediate fields of the cyclotomic Zp-extension over k. It is conjectured that A∞ is finite if k is totally real. When p is an odd prime and k is a real abelian field, we give a criterion for the conjecture, which is a generalization of results of Ichimura and Sumida. Furthermore, in a special case where p divides the degree of k, we also obtain a rather simple criterion.