A Japanese company is using a children's game as the basis for a new way of demolishing high rise buildings.

Daruma-otoshi is a Japanese children's game, stacked with four coloured pieces of wood. At the top of these pieces sits a Buddhist inspired dharma wish doll. This limbless, blind doll is a symbol of persistence and strong determination.

The object of the game is to use a small wooden hammer to knock down all four coloured pieces, one at a time, without causing the whole stack to collapse.

The dharma dolls are based on the story of Bodhidharma, the 5th century Indian monk and founder of Zen Buddhism.

Bodhidharma meditating in front of the cave wall. Painting by the 15th century Japanese zen monk Toyo Sesshu: "Hui ke offering his arm to Bodhidharma"

Bodhidharma is said to have sat motionless facing the wall of a cave for nine years. During the process he lost his arms, legs and sight but gained enlightenment...

Japanese company, Kajima has developed a floor by floor demolition process for skyscrapers, called Daruma-otoshi. This new method is an alternative to demolition with wrecking balls or explosives.

Using the Daruma-otoshi method, Kajima replaces the building's ground floor support pillars with huge metal columns. Everything from the ground floor is then removed. The concrete, steel, glass, insulation and electrical wiring is separated for recycling contractors. Once the ground floor has been cleared the computer controlled metal columns lower the entire building down one floor. Then the next floor is cleared. And so on and so forth.