photos from an temporary exhibition hosted in Arts&Crafts Museum of HangZhou,China

[sakimori]

Another less-fancy one.This type of guard did not exist till Qing's Dynasty--inspiration from cutlass and sabers of Europe.
Long sword with European guard,like the sample,is not very common--in China,these guard appears in the hilt of long knives&daggers more often:Refers to "butterfly knives" or"paired knives"if two knives were crafted to hold in one sheath."Short knives" or else,if they were not.I'm sure you are familiar with this part.