Kaato Higashikata

"I don't have any regrets, but... That's because I'm going to take back the life I lost."

- Kaato Higashikata, JJL Chapter 55 Kaato Higashikata (東方 花都) is a character featured in JoJolion.

Kaato is Norisuke Higashikata IV's former wife and the mother of four children. She is arrested and put in jail for 15 years after being accused for murdering a child. She is a Stand User with a playing card-based stand named Space Trucking.

Appearance
Kaato is a 52-year-old woman with shoulder-length black hair, parted in the middle with two spiral buns on each side which end in two spiraling pigtails.

She wears a long dress with a layer of fringe along the waist and with playing card back designs with the Higashikata family crest across her chest and on her hips. She also wears large rectangular bracelets on both of her wrists.

Personality
"I refuse to be a woman whose life is decided by men. I'm deciding it for myself."

- Kaato Higashikata, JJL Chapter 64 Kaato is a complex individual, showing different sides of herself depending on whom she's speaking with. She seems to act the most affectionate around her son, Jobin Higashikata whom she has a stronger connection with. Since he was a boy, Kaato doted on Jobin and would take special care to make sure he was alright, partially due to him showing early signs of the Rock Disease. After discovering that Jobin was being bullied and extorted by another boy, she showed abducted the unconscious bully. Taking Jobin with her, she had him assist her in burying the child alive in order to exchange his rock disease to the bully. Even as an adult Kaato is still happy to dote on him, notably smiling as she sets fixes Jobin's cuffs.

Kaato herself acts incredibly loving towards her children, however, she is not above violently reprimanding them if she is disrespected; as shown when Joshu intentionally tripped her with a chair, and also tore her bra and dress. Kaato initially dislikes Josuke, calling him a freeloader and generally looking down upon him for being taken in.

Kaato shows her true calculating personality to those she deeply trusts, like Jobin. She is also shown to be very stern with Jobin at times, slapping him when she notices him start to waver. In public, however, she comes off as charismatic and loving; as despite her horrific crime the prison community loved her and genuinely missed seeing her leave. While relaxed, she tends to speak like Hato; elongating certain syllables.

When Kaato steps out of prison, she is revealed to be determined in being granted her due "reward" for sacrificing 15 years of her life for the family. Thus, she demands that Norisuke gives her half of his fortune for the divorce, and she also wants to spend more time with her children. After some time it appears she no longer cares about the "reward" and was more focused on ensuring the safety of her family, shown by how she attempts to save Tsurugi from his Rock disease by transferring it to Toru.

Abilities
Kaato's Stand appears to take the form of a simple deck of playing cards. However, by placing objects between the cards, she can store that object in the deck itself as if nothing were there. Once stored, if a card containing the object is flipped over the object will emerge.

The size limit of objects Kaato can store within her cards is unknown, though she was able to keep a full-sized dining room chair within them.

Background
Fifteen years ago, Kaato Higashikata was a loving housewife to Norisuke Higashikata IV and her family. Sharing an especially close connection with her son, Jobin she'd take special care to make sure he was safe as a child; due to his developing Rock Disease. Unbeknownst to her, Jobin was secretly being bullied by his fellow boy scouts; one of whom forced Jobin to steal Kaato's underwear and take candid photos of her in the shower. Discovering Jobin's bully situation, Kaato approached her son after he awakened his new Stand. She had Jobin accompany her as she stored the bully's unconscious body in her car's trunk.

Driving to the location of a shrine, Kaato intended to save her son's life by sacrificing the bully to cure Jobin's Rock Disease. Instructing him to "keep climbing" and leave others "at the bottom", she had Jobin bury the bully alive underneath the shrine. Five years later, the bully's corpse was found and DNA evidence was linked to Kaato and her vehicle. Saving her son once again, she was arrested and imprisoned in Morioh's prison for 15 years. During her imprisonment, she was divorced by Norisuke for the murder charges. While she served her time, her fate was falsified by Norisuke to his children; being told that their mother was dead so they wouldn't have to bear the shame of Kaato's crimes.

Walking Heart, Breaking Heart
She is released from prison on time served shortly after her family's encounter with Tamaki Damo. The guards warn her that society has likely not yet forgiven her for her crimes, but they all loved her dearly. As she gets dressed in her original clothes, she retrieves a deck of cards she was allowed to have while imprisoned, which reveals a cellphone hidden within them, a result of her Stand's ability to hide things within the deck. She calls someone on the phone, who promises to pick her up at the prison, but she asks the caller to keep her release a secret from the family, as she wants to surprise Norisuke. As she hides the phone back in the deck of cards, Kaato claims she has no regrets for what she did as she plans on taking the life she lost back, and her caller is revealed to be her son Jobin. She leaves prison, tossing her engagement ring from Norisuke in the air as she walks out a free woman.

Dawn of the Higashikata Household
Kaato later meets up with Jobin, who allows her into the Higashikata household. Kaato waits on the couch for several hours as her children wonder who she could be. Once Norisuke wakes up, she calmly greets him to his utter horror. She lovingly introduces herself to the family, explaining that she is their mother. As Norisuke demands to know why she is out of prison and specifically returned to the household, she swears on her ancestors that she was an innocent woman and simply wanted to be reunited with her family. She then reveals that Norisuke divorced her while she was in prison while Hato explains to Josuke that Norisuke lied to them over their childhood; claiming that Kaato had died or abandoned the family. Joshu is less enthusiastic about meeting his mother and purposefully kicks a chair into her as she goes to hug Daiya. Joshu then undresses Kaato using Nut King Call to humiliate her further. The action causes her deck of cards to fall from her bra and spill out on the floor. Kaato, feigning worry, asks Joshu to help pick them up. As Joshu flips over a card, he is suddenly struck on his chin by a chair leg that was hidden between the cards. Kaato then warns Joshu not to trifle with her ever while still reaffirming the other children of her love for them. As Jobin enters the household, Kaato politely excuses herself to her hotel; saying that she'll come back when everyone is less shy.

Dolomite's Blue Lagoon
Kaato later appears painting her nails while sunbathing in Norisuke's hammock and drinking his stash of, much to his surprise. He commands her to leave immediately while she states calmly that half of the house, and Norisuke's assets, still belong to her. After Norisuke storms off, Kaato calls Jobin on her phone, telling him that she suspects Norisuke is plotting something. She also informs Jobin of Josuke's interloping, correctly assuming that he's also working against them.

The Wonder of You (The Miracle of Your Love) (story arc)
At some point after the death of Poor Tom Kaato meets with Jobin to talk, Kaato notices Jobins reluctance and presses him to tell her whats wrong. Jobin explains that he's worried certain forces will gather to the higashikata estate to look for the Locacaca branch he and Tsurugi had stolen and grafted, and is now using that branch to grow New Locacaca fruits. He also shows Kaato the effects of the equivalent exchange on his stag beetles, while Jobin contemplates telling Norisuke the truth of stealing the branch Kaato stops him, telling him that Norisuke will go against their plans of using the equivalent exchange for the betterment of their family and offers to hide the Locacaca plant and uses her Stand Space Trucking to place part of it within her cards, she expresses pride in how far Jobin has come, finally telling him to continue growing the plant in order to eventually exchange Tsurugis rock disease.

Later Kaato appears before Toru and uses what's left of the Locacaca to exchange Tsurugi Higashikata Rock Disease in attempt to break the curse of the Higashikata family and avenge her son Jobin Higashikata who was slain by Toru, while the exchange ends up killing Toru, His final calamity Kills Kaato in the process.

Trivia

 * Kaato's initials on her wedding ring begin with a C, suggesting her name is meant to be romanized as "Caato".
 * In Japanese, "Kaato" sounds similar to the Japanese pronunciation of the word "card", keeping with the names of women in the Higashikata family being based around playing cards, along with both her daughters, Daiya and Hato and her daughter-in-law Mitsuba. The only missing suit being the Spade, which Tsurugi may be, given that in some versions of the game replaces the Spade suit with Sword, which is the meaning of Tsurugi's name.