A native of Miyagi Prefecture in northern Japan, Sakurada attended military preparatory schools in Sendai and Tokyo, and graduated from the 25th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1913.

[1] In September 1940, Sakurada was assigned to command the Infantry Group of the IJA 22nd Army for the Invasion of French Indochina.

When the unit was disbanded in February 1941, he resumed his post as commander of the Guards Mixed Brigade to July 1941.

However, with the Pacific War, he did not enter the reserves himself, but was promoted to lieutenant general in December 1942 and was assigned command of the Army Naval Transport Headquarters based on Cebu in the Japanese-occupied Philippines.

He was killed in action on 10 September 1943, when a transport ship carrying him through the East China Sea was sunk by Allied forces.