Japanese word that literally means "word technique", which refers to proverbs, idioms, etc. You may also want to check out Japanese Expressions, a sister node to this node...

Examples of kotowaza are:

saru mo ki kara ochiru
neko ni koban
kaze no tayori
i no naka no kawazu
ame futte ji katamaru
ne mo ha mo nai
happou bijin
kappa mo kawa nagare
baka mo ichigei
isseki ni chou
nou aru taka wa tsume o kakusu
deru kugi wa utareru
onna sannin yoreba kashimashii
he o hitte shiri tsubome
fuku sui bon ni kaerazu
tonari no shibafu wa aoi