Obituary: Donald H. Shively, 84, Leader in Japanese Studies in the U.S., Dies

Donald H. Shively, a noted scholar of Japanese literature and culture whose work helped forge the emerging discipline of Japanese studies in the United States in the decades after World War II, died on Aug. 13 in Oakland, Calif. He was 84 and lived in Berkeley.

The cause was complications of Shy-Drager syndrome, a neurodegenerative disease, according to the University of California, Berkeley, where Dr. Shively was emeritus professor of East Asian languages and cultures. Dr. Shively had also taught at Harvard University for many years.

An authority on the popular culture of the Tokugawa period (1603-1868), Dr. Shively was best known for his translation of "The Love Suicide at Amijima," a domestic tragedy by the renowned Japanese dramatist Monzaemon Chikamatsu (1653-1725). Dr. Shively's translation, originally published in 1953, was re-issued by the University of Michigan in 1991.