the joestar family is a family with english roots with a majority of its members bearing a star-shaped birthmark above their left shoulder blade. in the original universe depicted in parts 1-6, the joestar bloodline was inherited by the kujo family and josuke higashikata. dio, having stolen jonathan's body at the end of part 1, fathered a few sons bearing the joestar bloodline while awakening use of stands in jonathan's descendants. in the universe depicted in parts 7 and 8, johnny joestar married rina higashikata with the higashikata family becoming a distant branch of the joestar family.