Miyako Matsumoto
In April 2006, Sakura left Gatokunyan to form her own promotion, named Ice Ribbon. Buying a dojo Saitama, Sakura continued to train wrestlers she had taken with her from Gatokunyan, including Aika Ando, Aoi Kizuki, Hikari Minami, Mai Ichii, Makoto, Riho and Seina. Ice Ribbon held its first two shows on June 20, 2006. Sakura wrestled her first match for the promotion on October 15, losing to Riho. Sakura spent most of her first year in Ice Ribbon, working with her then-nine-year-old pupil. From the start, Ice Ribbon had a close relationship with the NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling promotion, which led to Sakura and some of her trainees making semi-regular appearances with the promotion. In storyline, the partnership was explained with a relationship between Sakura and NEO president Tetsuya Koda. On February 18, 2007, the Sakura Ribbon Army, a team of Sakura and some of her trainees and friends, defeated the NEO Machineguns Army in a seven-on-seven battle royal, earning Sakura and Koda the right to marry each other and unify NEO and Ice Ribbon. However, after pleading from her trainees, Sakura turned on Koda and abandoned him at the altar, ending the storyline. On July 16, Sakura teamed with Yoshiko Tamura to defeat Haruka Matsuo and Misae Genki for the NEO Tag Team Championship. They would lose the title to Ayako Hamada and Kaoru Ito just thirteen days later. During 2008, Sakura made her acting debut, working on the film "Three Count", which was set in the world of professional wrestling and also starred fellow wrestler Kyoko Inoue and Yoshiko Tamura. From the cast of the film, Sakura received three more trainees to her Ice Ribbon dojo, Hikaru Shida, Miyako Matsumoto and Tsukasa Fujimoto. On November 15, 2008, Sakura teamed with male wrestler Ribbon Takanashi to unsuccessfully challenge Riho and Yuki Sato for the International Ribbon Tag Team Championship. The following April, Sakura teamed with another one of her trainees, Makoto, facing Nanae Takahashi and Minori Makiba in a losing effort in a match for the vacant International Ribbon Tag Team Championship.