Higashikata Family

"The Higashikata Family would like to pay back this country and this land through public service."

- Norisuke Higashikata IV,

The Higashikata Family (東方家) is one of the main families of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, with its members appearing in the fourth part Diamond is Unbreakable and the eighth part JoJolion.

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.

Diamond is Unbreakable
The Higashikata (東方) family is first seen in Diamond is Unbreakable and consists of three family members. They reside in the suburb of Morioh in a detached house and seem to be middle-class. Josuke, being the son of Joseph Joestar, is the only member having a Stand, Tomoko and Ryohei being ordinary humans who are left out of the former's adventures. At some point in time, the Higashikata family buys a reef in the coast of Morioh, where the town's abalones reside in.

JoJolion
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, including those in the family by marriage, although the circumstances of each of their abilities' acquisition is undisclosed.

Trivia

 * All Stand users from Steel Ball Run universe's Higashikata Family use a Stand whose name contains the word "King".
 * Norisuke Higashikata IV: King Nothing
 * Jobin Higashikata: Speed King
 * Mitsuba Higashikata: Awaking III Leaves
 * Hato Higashikata: Walking Heart
 * Joshu Higashikata: Nut King Call
 * Daiya Higashikata: California King Bed
 * Tsurugi Higashikata: Paper Moon King
 * All men in the family (excluding Tsurugi) also have their given name start with the kanji.