The Higashikata Family (東方家 Higashikata Ke) is one of the main families of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series. Connected to the Joestar Family, its members are usually on the side of good. Unlike the Joestars, the Higashikata family exclusively resides in the town of Morioh.
In the new continuity of Steel Ball Run and JoJolion, a new more peculiar Higashikata family comes to the forefront. Unlike the first iteration, they are more deeply connected to the supernatural and have more quirks. The first Higashikata featured is Norisuke Higashikata, a mature Japanese man who competes in the Steel Ball Run race. After the race, he started a successful fruit selling business in the Higashikata Fruit Company, eventually making the family a respected well-off part of Morioh's community. They also all reside within the Higashikata House in the middle of a large estate of garden and orchards, and whose soil presents the supernatural property of being able to mix buried bodies' characteristics. However, one of the strangest things about them is that the family is cursed with the Rock Disease, which changes each generation's eldest child into rock, a curse which has afflicted the family for an undisclosed amount of time. Thus, the Higashikata follow several traditions to counter this curse. The eldest son most notably has to crossdress in an attempt to ward off the curse, and they previously had to make the second son or anyone marrying the eldest daughter the new head of the family. However, since Norisuke IV's time, the family has had an unofficial trend of having a parent sacrifice themselves for the child by performing a transfer of the curse, a tradition which Kaato Higashikata broke. This Higashikata family follows a tradition wherein the eldest son of each generation changes his birth name to "Norisuke", likely when the previous Norisuke passes away, as seen in the case where Jobin Higashikata has not yet taken up the name "Norisuke V". The family tree as revealed in JoJolion lists its members from right to left from eldest child to youngest child. Interestingly, the names of the siblings of each "Norisuke" in each generation are not revealed in the family tree. The tree also demonstrates a bloodline connection to the (SBR Universe) Joestar Family through Rina Higashikata, intertwining the two families. Lastly, all of the currently living Higashikata are Stand Users, although the circumstances of each of their abilities' acquisition is undisclosed.
In JoJolion, Johnny Joestar plays a minor role. His significant contribution was in Steel Ball Run as a main protagonist. Once a horse-racing prodigy, Johnny's career took a turn when he became paraplegic. He participated in the Steel Ball Run race, intrigued by Gyro Zeppeli's Steel Balls, the only known cure for his condition. Throughout the race, Johnny developed abilities as a Spin User and a Stand User, gaining the power of Tusk. According to family tree left in the 1989 edition of Norisuke Higashikata's record of the Steel Ball Run race, Johnny had married Norisuke's daughter, Rina Higashikata, in 1892 and had a daughter and son with her. Their family lived on a farm, though Johnny would travel to Japan by request of the Japanese government to teach horsemanship, and also contributed to the importation of foreign fruits. According to the old man on Shakedown Road, about nine years after the marriage, Rina was stricken with an incurable disease that gave her on-and-off amnesia and origami-like folded skin. Johnny thus brought Rina back to Morioh, so that she could live in her native town. Johnny pierces his son's head with the Golden Spin. Johnny pierces his son's head with the Golden Spin. After agonizing over his wife's condition, Johnny turned to stealing the Corpse from the vault and brought it back to Morioh to cure her. The American government reacted from having the Corpse taken and pursued Johnny, but by taking advantage of a certain privilege and sneaking aboard a ship crossing the Atlantic and Indian oceans, he narrowly evaded them into the Pacific. Johnny's Death. Johnny's Death. With the government pursuers still following, Johnny took the Corpse and hid it at the roots of the Meditation Pine by the coast of Morioh and then fetched Rina and their infant son, George Joestar III, by carriage. Using the Holy Corpse's power to cure disease (more accurately described as a power to remove), the curse was removed from Rina, but was unfortunately forced upon George instead. Having promised not to use the Corpse anymore, but willing to use it again to cure his son, Johnny mounted his horse and placed his child atop the case containing the Corpse. After gaining a certain amount of velocity, Johnny activated the Golden Spin and shot his son using Tusk Act 4 to transfer the curse upon himself as the bullet shot him the head. After falling to the ground, the Stand, Les Feuilles, manifests itself, at which point causes a large boulder to land on Johnny's head, crushing his skull. Thus, Johnny Joestar's life ends at the age of 29, in the evening of November 12, 1901. However, these details remain a rumor. His body is discovered the next morning by Rina, next to George and the case containing the Corpse. Due to the lack of witnesses, everyone believed Johnny had been murdered and the prime suspect was his wife, Rina Higashikata, who was released later when the incident was classified as an accident. Six months later, a Jizou statue was erected in memory of Johnny Joestar and he was buried in Morioh.