Kepanjenkidul District: Blitar Wards, Square | BaliGenie

Kepanjenkidul district is the northernmost of the three districts of Blitar city, and it holds the civic centre of the city along with a rim of working rice fields. Seven kelurahan, or urban wards, run from the central square on Jalan Merdeka out toward the Nglegok border, and the district shows two faces: a compact southern half with the square, the station area and the markets, and a northern half where farmland is still part of daily life. This page explains how the district came to exist, how its wards are arranged and what a visitor finds there.

Where Kepanjenkidul District Sits in Blitar

Blitar city is a small enclave inside Blitar regency, and Kepanjenkidul takes up its northern end, covering about ten and a half square kilometres. To the north lies Nglegok district of the regency, to the east Sananwetan district of the city, and to the south and west Sukorejo district. In the north-west the district also touches Sanankulon district of the regency. For the wider city and its story, see the page on Blitar, which sets out the town of Sukarno’s boyhood and its temple country.

The ground is low and level. The city as a whole has a tropical monsoon climate in which rain is heaviest between November and May and drier from June to October. The volcano Mount Kelud rises just over twenty kilometres to the north, which is why the northern edge of the district looks across farmland toward a skyline of hills.

How Kepanjenkidul Became a District

The district is a product of a boundary change. A government regulation of 1982 enlarged the city of Blitar by taking in villages from the surrounding regency and created the districts of Kepanjenkidul, Sananwetan and Sukorejo. Ngadirejo and Tanggung came from Nglegok and were joined with five existing city wards to form Kepanjenkidul. The regulation lists those wards as Ngadirejo, Sentul, Kauman, Tanggung, Bendo (spelled Bondo in the text) and Kepanjen Lor, together with the ward that gives the district its name.

That history explains the split character of the district. The southern wards were already part of the town, while Ngadirejo and Tanggung were villages with rice fields that became urban wards on paper long before they changed on the ground.

The Seven Kelurahan of Kepanjenkidul District

The wards are Bendo, Kauman, Kepanjenkidul, Kepanjenlor, Ngadirejo, Sentul and Tanggung. Between them they hold some forty-five thousand residents, and every ward is subdivided into community and neighbourhood units, with a total of around sixty-four community units.

• Bendo has the hamlet-like quarters of Bendo, Baderan and Sangut, and a population of about six and a half thousand.
• Kauman includes Kauman and Dawuhan and is one of the larger wards, with close to seven thousand residents.
• Kepanjenkidul, the ward that lends its name to the district, has no separate sub-quarters and a population of close to eight thousand, among the largest.
• Kepanjenlor, to its north, is the ward where the central square stands, and has around five and a half thousand residents.
• Ngadirejo is the smallest, with Ngadirejo and Bangsongan as quarters and fewer than four thousand residents.
• Sentul is the most populous ward, at nearly eight and a half thousand, and includes Sentul, Jatimalang and Jurang Sembot.
• Tanggung has the quarters of Tanggung, Badut and Santren and a population of a little over six thousand.

The pairing of Kepanjenkidul and Kepanjenlor is worth noting. Kidul means south and lor means north, so the two names read as southern Kepanjen and northern Kepanjen, a pair of wards that sit side by side around the square area.

Ngadirejo and Tanggung at the Field Edge

The two wards that came from Nglegok in 1982 are the best places to see what the district was before it became part of the city. Ngadirejo includes the quarter of Bangsongan, while Tanggung is made up of Tanggung, Badut and Santren. Both are on the northern side, facing the Nglegok border, and both still have wet rice fields between their housing. Ngadirejo is the smallest ward in the district by population, and Tanggung is mid-sized, so the fields here are worked by relatively few households and the open land feels close to the houses.

For visitors the practical meaning is a change of pace within a short ride. A person who starts at the square and rides north reaches paddy within minutes, with irrigation channels beside the lanes and farm plots tucked behind the last rows of houses. This is the district’s counterpart to the lively centre, and it shows that Blitar city is still partly an agricultural place.

Kepanjenkidul District Roads and Layout

Three roads give the district its shape. Jalan Merdeka is the main axis, and the central square is on it. Jalan Ciliwung and Jalan Mastrip are the other roads named as important, and a route leads north from the city toward Nglegok and the Penataran temple complex, described on the page for Candi Penataran.

The southern wards, Kepanjenkidul and Kepanjenlor, are mostly built up with streets, offices and shops. The northern wards, Ngadirejo and Tanggung, still have a good deal of paddy, and walkers who head north from the square soon leave buildings behind. This gradient from a town centre to a field edge within a few kilometres is typical of small Javanese cities and is one of the district’s pleasures.

The Alun-Alun and the Civic Centre

The city square, the alun-alun, stands on Jalan Merdeka in the ward of Kepanjenlor. It has served as public space since 1880 and lies a short walk from the railway station, about four hundred and fifty metres away. In the evenings it is where families gather, where performances are held and where a night market sets up. Next to it stand the city government office and the Pendopo Kabupaten Blitar, a traditional Javanese hall of local government.

The same civic cluster includes the railway station, the city park known as Taman Pecut and the information centre for the Sukarno tomb tourist area. This is the part of the district a visitor is most likely to see, and it can be covered on foot in an unhurried morning.

Markets and Everyday Trade

Two traditional markets give the district its commercial weight. Pasar Pon and Pasar Templek are the busy shopping areas, and Pasar Templek stands in Kepanjenkidul ward on Jalan Kacapiring. A large modern shopping centre also operates in the district. As in most Javanese towns, the markets are where farmers from Ngadirejo and Tanggung sell vegetables and rice, and where residents of the southern wards buy the day’s supplies.

Services follow the same pattern. A general hospital and a health centre named for the district stand in the built-up wards, and sports grounds include a city stadium, a water park and a sport centre. These give the district a role as a leisure and services centre for the city, in addition to its role as the seat of government.

Sukarno’s Blitar and Nearby Places

Kepanjenkidul is the natural starting point for the best known sights of Blitar. The grave of Indonesia’s first president lies roughly five kilometres from the city square, and it draws very large numbers of visitors every year. It is described on the page for the Sukarno tomb, and his boyhood home is covered on the page for Istana Gebang. For a more relaxed outing, the page on Kampung Coklat describes a cocoa village in the Blitar area.

Within the district itself, the sights are quieter ones: the square, the park, the stadium and the markets. Visitors with only a few hours in Blitar tend to spend them at the tomb and the house, and the district suits a second half-day built around walking, eating at market stalls and watching the square fill in the evening.

Practical Notes

Because the district is small and flat, it is easy to explore by foot, bicycle or motorbike taxi. The railway station is close to the square, which makes the district an easy first stop for travellers arriving by train. Visitors who wish to see a different face of the district should walk or ride north into Ngadirejo and Tanggung, where the paddy fields come right up to the housing.

The weather shapes any visit. Rain is heavy between November and May, so afternoon downpours are common in that season, and the dry months from June to October make for the clearest views of Mount Kelud. A relaxed visit works best in the cooler part of the day, and the square is most lively after sunset.