Landscape characteristics of onion shed in Minami-Awaji city, Hyogo prefecture

Abstract

An "onion shed" is a wall-less storage house with only a beam, roof, and frame, where harvested onions are bundled and hung to be dried and stored. Onion sheds were a common feature in Minami-Awaji city in the beginning of summer; however, due to challenges related to hanging onions, the number of sheds has declined. In this study, the spatial characteristics and actual usage of rapidly disappearing onion sheds were investigated to determine an effective way to continue their succession. As per the findings, the district housed 1,093 sheds of three alignments- “spread style (in farmland)” “spread style (in village)” and “lined up style.” And traditional sheds with tiled roofs and wooden pillars accounted for 17.9% of all onion sheds, which were inclined to be lost with farmland consolidation. Moreover, it became clear that livestock farmers and double-cropping farmers are working together in a small village.