Comment by aebtebeten

Cicada <- Mantis <- Oriole <- Courtier <- Pond, of which only the first three are explicit...

I did once run across some nice phrases at the end of a karate book, which (judging by the lack of hiragana) had been lifted, unattributed, from a chengyu-style source.

If we take 4-word to be the equivalent of 4-character:

  Parry? Wait 'til late
  Your lunge surprises yourself
  Champion with two techniques

(hmm, that worked better than I thought it might!)