The Sakura (さくら^?, Cherry Blossom) is a high-speed shinkansen service operated between Shin-Ōsaka and Kagoshima in Japan since 12 March 2011. It was formerly a limited express sleeper train service operated by JR Kyushu, which ran from Tokyo to Nagasaki and Sasebo in Kyushu, Japan. The service was discontinued from the start of the revised timetable on 1 March 2005.

The Sakura was first introduced on 1 April 1951 as a daytime Limited express service between Tokyo and Osaka. This service was discontinued in October 1958.

The Sakura sleeping car service commenced on 20 July 1959 using 20 series sleeping cars. From March 1972, the train was upgraded with 14 series sleeping cars.

From 4 December 1999, the Sakura ran coupled with the Hayabusa service between Tokyo and Tosu. The last services ran on the evening of 28 February 2005.

From 12 March 2011, the Sakura name was revived once again for the new shinkansen services operating between Shin-Osaka and Kagoshima-Chūō using new JR West N700-7000 series and JR Kyushu N700-8000 series 8-car trainsets.Sakura trains operate once every hour between Shin-Osaka and Kagoshima-Chūō throughout the day. There are also additional Sakura services once per hour between Hakata and Kagoshima-Chuo during the morning and evening. During the middle of the day there will be two additional runs per hour: One between Hakata and Kagoshima-Chūō, and one between Hakata and Kumamoto. Some Sakura runs within the Kyushu Shinkansen are operated by 6-car 800 series trains.

A cherry blossom is the flower of any of several trees of genus Prunus, particularly the Japanese Cherry, Prunus serrulata, which is sometimes called sakura after the Japanese (桜 or 櫻; さくら). Many of the varieties that have been cultivated for ornamental use do not produce fruit. Edible cherries generally come from cultivars of the related species Prunus avium and Prunus cerasus.

"Hanami" is the centuries-old practice of picnicking under a blooming sakura or ume tree. The custom is said to have started during the Nara Period (710–794) when it was ume blossoms that people admired in the beginning. But by the Heian Period (794–1185), cherry blossoms came to attract more attention and hanami was synonymous with sakura. From then on, in tanka and haiku, "flowers" meant "sakura." The custom was originally limited to the elite of the Imperial Court, but soon spread to samurai society and, by the Edo period, to the common people as well. Tokugawa Yoshimune planted areas of cherry blossom trees to encourage this. Under the sakura trees, people had lunch and drank sake in cheerful feasts.

A railway or railroad train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track (permanent way) to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two, three or four rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.

Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate locomotive, or from individual motors in self-propelled multiple units. Most modern trains are powered by diesel locomotives or by electricity supplied by overhead wires or additional rails, although historically (from the early 19th century to the mid-20th century) the steam locomotive was the dominant form of locomotive power. Other sources of power (such as horses, rope or wire, gravity, pneumatics, batteries, and gas turbines) are possible.

The word 'train' comes from the Old French trahiner, itself from the Latin trahere 'pull, draw'.

There are various types of trains that are designed for particular purposes. A train can consist of a combination of one or more locomotives and attached railroad cars, or a self-propelled multiple unit (or occasionally a single or articulated powered coach, called a railcar). Trains can also be hauled by horses, pulled by a cable, or run downhill by gravity.