:Hironobu Takesaki

{{Short description|Japanese lawyer}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = The Honourable

| name = Hironobu Takesaki

| native_name = {{nobold|竹崎 博允}}

| image =

| office1 = 17th Chief Justice of Japan

| appointer1 = Emperor Akihito

| term_start1 = November 25, 2008

| term_end1 = March 31, 2014

| predecessor1 = Niro Shimada

| successor1 = Itsurō Terada

| office2 =

| appointer2 =

| term_start2 =

| term_end2 =

| birth_name = {{Nihongo|竹崎博允|Takesaki Hironobu}}

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1944|7|8}}

| birth_place = Okayama Prefecture, Japan

| death_date =

| death_place =

| alma_mater = University of Tokyo
Columbia University

| religion =

}}

{{nihongo|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. He is a graduate of the University of Tokyo Faculty of Law {{Cite web |url=http://www.courts.go.jp/english/justices/takesaki.html |title=Supreme Court of Japan | TAKESAKI, Hironobu |access-date=2011-11-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110906074046/http://www.courts.go.jp/english/justices/takesaki.html |archive-date=2011-09-06 |url-status=dead }} and of Columbia Law School.

At age 64, Takesaki replaced Niro Shimada as the Chief Justice when November 21, 2008, the date of Shimada's mandatory retirement, came."[http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/takesaki-formally-named-as-supreme-court-chief-justice Takesaki formally named as Supreme Court chief justice]." Japan Today. October 31, 2008. He retired in March 2014.

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."{{cite news|last=Osaki|first=Tomohiro|title=Ex-judge lifts lid on Japan's 'corrupt' judicial system|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/04/30/national/crime-legal/ex-judge-lifts-lid-japans-corrupt-judicial-system/#.U2Mu-fmSxQh|access-date=2 May 2014|newspaper=The Japan Times|date=30 April 2014}}

Takesaki was replaced by Itsurō Terada as the new Chief Justice on April 1, 2014, the date of Takesaki's retirement.