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A Japanese proverb (諺, ことわざ kotowaza) may take the form of:
a short saying (言い習わし iinarawashi),
an idiomatic phrase (慣用句 kan'yōku), or
a four-character idiom (四字熟語 yojijukugo).
One of my favourite kotowaza is 壁に耳あり、障子に目あり (kabe ni mimi ari shouji ni me ari) which means 'the walls have ears, the door have eyes'.
There's a similar expression in Karelian language. Check this out. 'Pertis pagizet — perti kuulou, ilmal pagizet — ulmu kuulou', which also means when you speak in house, your house is listening, and when you speak outside, the street is listening.
So this is the kanji for Kotowaza.
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