Jens,
I believe the decoration is that of stylized flowers. If you look at the decoration around the border of the handle, it resembles very much that of the chrysanthemum. It is 8-sided. If you look at the inner decoration of the handle, it is smaller, also 8-sided and looks more like a snow flake to me and seems more geometric unless it is related to the larger, 8-sided chrysanthemum. In other words, perhaps the smaller decoration is the larger one not in bloom or something like that. There does appear to be small lines going through those smaller 8-sided snow flakes suggestive of a vine. There are also very tiny decoration all about that have no real shape and seem to be most closely related to "foilage". What is impressive is the quality and the condition given the age. Later, I will take a pic of the underside of the knucklebow. It has a "X" decoration that one finds in decoration from many cultures.
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