Diospyros spp.

There are at least 4 or 5 species of Asian persimmon that are documented in Japan, Korea and China, although only several are commonly known about in the West.

The garden presented in this series of photos, Oyakuen Garden, is located in a city northeast of Tokyo called Aizu Wakamatsu, accessible by road or train from Utsunomiya on the Tohoko Shinkansen bullet train. The town is known as having ancient samurai roots, with the garden having origins in the 1420s. Several trees in the garden are over 520 years old, like the false holly (Osmanthus heterophyllus).

The Asian persimmon in the garden also has ancient roots, and is known in Japanese as mamegaki. It was apparently used for its astringency in making paper to make it stronger. It's very astringent, but becomes sweet when it ripens to black, so kids used to dig them out of the snow in the winter to eat them with their fingers, as the story goes according to an old-timer at the garden.