The term soft rot, which was caused by Ascomycetes and Deuteromycetes, was first used by J G Savory in 1954. Soft rot decay can be characterized by cavities within secondary cell walls align along the cellulose microfibrils. Our recent literature search revealed, however, that Prof. F. Onaka in Kyoto University described the soft rot cavities in the waterlogged archaeological woods in detail from the year of 1935 on, almost 20 years earlier than Savory. Although Dr. Onaka did not use the term of cavity, however, “micro boreholes” matched precisely with the definition of Savory’s soft-rot cavity. He described that the boreholes (= cavities) were developed along the microfibril in the latewood of waterlogged archaeological larch, yew and umbrella pine. Dissemination of his novelty would limited due to the language unfamiliar to Western hemisphere.

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