Abstract
This study aims to clarify the current situations of shrine groves in Sakai City. The space characteristics of the shrines were evaluated based on their land size and the land use of the area surrounding the shrine, and the structural characteristics of the shrine groves were evaluated based on the current conditions of their green coverage and ground surface. Then, according to the results of these evaluations, the shrine groves were very close to natural habitat were chosen as the subjects of the flora survey. The results indicated that there was a variety of land characteristics and land sizes among the shrine groves studied, and that the shrine groves seemed to be more similar to the natural habitat when the percentage of urbanized area in the area with a radius of 500m was less than 50% or the land area of the shrines was more than 5,000m2. The results clarified that the area of the shrine groves was correlated with the number of tree species grown in the shrine groves, and that the shrine groves did not always consist of laurel forest which is usually included in the natural habitats.
