Origin

The kanji 柿 combines wood (木) on the left with market (市) on the right. The wood component indicates this is a plant or tree, narrowing down the category to something grown from trees. The market component most likely functions here as a sound hint rather than contributing meaning—it helps indicate pronunciation. Together, the character pictures a type of fruit that grows on trees and would have been common enough to see sold in markets, which is exactly what the persimmon is.