Hironobu Takesaki (竹崎 博允, Takesaki Hironobu, born July 8, 1944) is a Japanese lawyer and a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Japan.
At age 64, Takesaki replaced Niro Shimada as the Chief Justice when November 21, 2008, the date of Shimada's mandatory retirement, came.
Takesaki has been harshly criticized by former judge Hiroshi Segi in his book Zetubo no Saibansho, where he is alleged to have "ensured judges who issued rulings or published academic papers running counter to his leadership policies were denied promotion and banished to rural areas.
As a result, terrified judges learned to kowtow to their superiors and shy away from handing down nonconforming rulings.
This biographical article related to Japan is a stub.