I'll say they are not the same.

From Persimmon Fruit Facts :

Jiro
Fruit large. Resembles Fuyu, but more truncated and squarish in cross-section. Skin orange-red. Flavor and quality excellent. Ripens late October and early November, ships well. Often sold as Fuyu. Tree slightly upright. Most popular nonastringent variety in California.

Fuyu (Fuyugaki)
Medium-large oblate fruit, faintly four-sided. Skin deep orange. Flesh light orange, sweet and mild. Ripens late. Keeps well and is an excellent packer and shipper. Tree vigorous, spreading, productive. Most popular nonastringent cultivar in Japan.

Not to blame raintree there, but the original people marketing these fruits also thought there were only 2 types of oriental persimmons. The non-astringent type they call all of them Fuyu and the astringent types are called hachiyas. Simple to describe, simple to print, simple to sell! So if it is Jiro, Ogosho, Fuyu, Hana Fuyu, Matsumoto Wase, they are sold as Fuyu. No tongue twisting challenging names for the English speakers!

We should strive to correct that there are more than 200 types of oriental persimmons alone, and several dozen of selected (or bred) types of American persimmons too. We even have several popular American by Oriental persimmon hybrids, and of course the name of those are more comfortable to the English speakers.

I have about 43 DIFFERENT kinds of persimmons grafted together in one tree and sure enough there are significant differences among them, from flower sizes to fruit color, taste, and ripening stages. My fruit harvest starts as early as mid August and it lasts until Christmas.

Anyway, here's my computer generated description from my own software:
Jiro
Other names include Ziro. The tree produces medium sized fruits. Firm ripe fruits can be eaten fresh. Non-astringent type regardless of pollination. A pollination constant non astringent (PCNA) type. Fruit shape is flat, with a squarish cross section. Best time to harvest is when fruits have dark-orange skin color. When ripe, flesh is orange-yellow in color when pollinated. Sugar content of the fruit is medium. It has rounded seeds that are medium to large sized. Cold storage of fruits are not recommended. The female flowers are medium sized. Cultivar originated from Japan. The fruits after cold storage have good taste quality. It flowers are of the intermediate type. It bears female flowers only. Tree ripened fruits have poor to fair taste. An intermediately vigorous tree. Its fruits ripen intermediately in the season. This plant is mainly used for fruit production. Frost resistance is low. Fruit production has high reliability. Fruits are primarily used as dessert. It has medium parthenocarpic fruit sets. It has none or very low grafting compatibility on Diospyrus lotus rootstock.

Fuyu
Sometimes called Fuyugaki. It produces medium sized fruits. A pollination constant non astringent (PCNA) type. Fruit shape is flat, with a roundish to squarish cross section. Best time to harvest is when fruits have orange-red to red skin color. When ripe, flesh is red-orange in color when pollinated. Sugar content of the fruit is medium. It has sub-triangular seeds that are medium to large sized. It has very good grafting compatibility on Diospyrus lotus rootstock. It flowers are of the intermediate type. Cultivar originated from Japan. Fruit production has high reliability. An intermediately vigorous to a vigorous tree. Tree ripened fruits have poor to fair taste. Cold storage of fruits are recommended. It has low to medium parthenocarpic fruit sets. The fruits after cold storage have good taste quality. Its fruits ripen intermediately to late in the season. Frost resistance is medium. It bears female flowers only. This cultivar is mainly used for fruit production. The female flowers are medium sized. Fruits are primarily used as dessert.

I also got caught in the same thing, I bought a Fuyu from Bay Laurel but after getting it I noticed in the description they said "Fuyu ('Jiro')", so I really got a Jiro I guess. I recall something about how Jiro is supposed to be easier to grow, don't recall why though. I think that is why Bay Laurel sells Jiro and not Fuyu.

There is a similar naming problem with the PVNA types; "Maru" and "Chocolate" have been used as generic names for that type of persimmon. I have one of each name and am waiting for fruit to see how they compare - maybe they will be the same.

Scott

i was sold a bare potted fuju persimmon (labeled jiro) at a great nursery in Jan. 2011, and it has already become a beautiful tree. Unfortunately, the fruits are no more than 1/2 in. in diameter. Taste sort of like fuju, but pretty useless for eating. The leaves are much darker and thinner than the hachya persimmon I bought at the same time. These were the same size when purchased, but the jiro is twice as big 2 1/2 yrs. after planting. I'm so disappointed, though the tree is prettier than the hachya.

Also, though I did mulch the soil well, I've never fertilized the tree, and have only watered once all year. Does anyone know what this is? Photo below. Thanks for your help!
Culver City, CA 90232 (West side of LA)

This post was edited by diaph on Sat, Aug 17, 13 at 20:27

Photo of the mystery jiro fruits.

Also, will it get huge (no room for a huge tree)--it's grown about 4 ft. this year--ca. 9 ft tall. Yikes! Should I take it out and get a real fuju?

Thanks again for your help!

This post was edited by diaph on Sat, Aug 17, 13 at 20:29

I think that is fruit from your rootstock, the grafted tree likely died. Pretty sure it is not American persimmon, doesn't look like Kaki either I would think that is likely Lotus. Either graft it over or replace it.

Thanks so much, strudeldog, for your prompt reply. This info helps tremendously!

Thanks so much, strudeldog, for your prompt reply. This info helps tremendously!