Yo Takenaka (竹中 要 Takenaka Yō, 1903–1966) was a Japanese plant geneticist and a Professor of Department of Cell Genetics, National Institute of Genetics.
He is notable for researching the phylogenetic classification of cherry blossom.
He discovered that Prunus × yedoensis is a crossbreed of two wild species of Japanese cherry; Prunus spachiana forma ascendens (Edo higan) and Prunus speciosa (Oshima zakura) by crossing experiments.
He graduated from the Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Tokyo Imperial University in 1927.
After the end of war, he became a Professor of National Institute of Genetics in 1949.