Overview

In the early 1900s Japan occupied Korea, imposed harsh military law, and attempted to destroy Korea's indigenous martial art, Taekeon. Master Kija and his small band of students practiced Taekeon in the small village of Sinuju, on the slopes of Korea's sacred Mt. Paektu, which straddled China's border. Master Kija was one of four Taekeon Masters throughout Korea that knew the ancient sacred circle, the Taeguek, was hidden deep within the caverns of Mt. Paektu. Suddenly, Japanese soldiers flooded Sinuju, threw villagers from their homes, and began plundering and probing for treasure. Master Kija realized, belatedly, that the Japanese Emperor suspected the location of the Taeguek. To his boundless sorrow, Master Kija accepted that he must put his young charges in great, perhaps mortal, peril, to save the Taeguek circle. They would have one source of help. Each child could use the spirit and power inherent in the Taeguek kwaes to escape the soldiers, save themselves, and save the sacred circle.