Righteous-army commander and Confucian scholar of the late Korean Empire; supreme commander of the Jinju army; pen name Sinam; posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation (Citizen Medal)
| Life | 1861 ~ 1907 |
| Era | 대한제국 |
| Clan | 광주 노씨 |
No Eung-gyu (1861-1907) was a Confucian scholar of late Joseon and a righteous-army commander of the late Korean Empire, from Gwangju, with the pen name Sinam (愼菴). Born on 15 March 1861 in Hamyang, South Gyeongsang, he was a pupil of the noted scholar Heo Jeon and also studied under Choe Ik-hyeon, Song Byeong-seon and Song Geun-su, leading figures of the "defend orthodoxy, reject heterodoxy" movement. Some records also say he took part in the Donghak Peasant Movement, so accounts of his youth differ.
When the order to cut topknots followed the 1895 assassination of Queen Min, Confucian scholars rose in large numbers, and No raised a righteous army at Hamyang in 1896. With the Jangsusa monk Seo Jae-gi as vanguard, his force took Jinju at once and, joined by local forces, formed the Jinju army (supreme commander No Eung-gyu), advancing toward Busan and even taking Gimhae before being pushed back by Japanese intervention and disbanded. According to Hwang Hyeon, some of the force looted the area in early 1897, so later evaluations are divided. His family members were killed, and fleeing toward Honam he submitted a memorial just after the proclamation of the Korean Empire in late 1897 and was pardoned.
Gojong then employed Confucian scholars who had raised righteous armies, and No served as a clerk at the Gyujanggak and an attendant to the Crown Prince, working close to the king. After the Russo-Japanese War, with Japanese power growing and the 1905 treaty signed, in 1906 he heard that his teacher Choe Ik-hyeon was raising an army at Jeongeup and joined, but the leadership was arrested after defeat at Sunchang and the force collapsed. He escaped and that year formed a new army in North Chungcheong with Seo Eun-gu, Eom Hae-yun, Kim Bo-un and Oh Ja-hong, but a spy exposed it and he was arrested on 8 December and died in prison within a month. He is said to have fasted, unwilling to eat rice given by the Japanese. The Republic of Korea awarded him the Citizen Medal of the Order of Merit for National Foundation in 1977.
In 1896, when Confucian scholars rose in anger at the order to cut topknots, No Eung-gyu raised an army in Hamyang, took Jinju and became its supreme commander. It advanced toward Busan as far as Gimhae before being disbanded by Japanese intervention. Hwang Hyeon's Maecheon Yarok testifies that part of the force disturbed the Jinju area, showing that evaluations of the righteous armies are not simple. This text summarizes Wikipedia and records such conflicting accounts as well.
After joining Choe Ik-hyeon's army in 1906 and its defeat at Sunchang, the leadership was arrested; he then tried to organize another army in North Chungcheong but was exposed by a spy and died in prison in early 1907. The government awarded him the Citizen Medal of the Order of Merit for National Foundation in 1977. The Hamyang-Jinju area of western South Gyeongsang is not among the main Gwangju No home areas, but he shows, along with No Jin-seol in the legal profession, that figures emerged in a wide range of fields.
The location of his tomb was not confirmed in this research.