Ngasem District: Capital Zone and Springs

Ngasem district is the newest-looking part of Kediri Regency. It lies immediately north of Kediri City, on lowland that was mostly rice field until the regency decided to build its administrative centre here. Twelve villages share the district, and at its heart stands the large triumphal arch of Simpang Lima Gumul, the landmark that Kediri people use as a symbol of the whole regency.

Ngasem District Beside Kediri City

The district’s southern boundary is Kediri City. To the north and west lies Gampengrejo district, and to the north and east lies Pagu, with Gurah curving around the eastern side. In other words, Ngasem is held in a ring of districts and is also in the middle of the regency, which is one reason it was chosen to host the government. A short drive in any direction reaches another district centre, so the new centre is easy to reach from almost anywhere in the regency.

The landscape is flat and open. Rice fields dominate the land that is not covered by new public buildings, and small canals run between them. The Brantas River, which cuts through the city to the west, is not far off. For readers who want the city as a base, the page on Kediri City explains the river, the three city districts and the industry that surrounds them.

Ngasem as a separate district is recent. It was created in 2004 by splitting land off Gampengrejo, under a regency regulation numbered 19 of that year, at the same time as the creation of the Kayen Kidul district out of Pagu. The new boundary gave the regency room to build a purpose-made centre, away from the crowded city, and the district grew around that purpose.

The Twelve Villages of Ngasem

The district contains twelve villages: Doko, Gogorante, Karangrejo, Kwadungan, Nambaan, Ngasem, Paron, Sukorejo, Sumberejo, Toyoresmi, Tugurejo and Wonocatur. The postal code is 64184. Villages near the arch are the ones most changed by the new centre; those at the edges, such as Doko and Paron, still look like the farming villages they were before.

Each village has something that marks it out:

Doko holds the grave of Prabu Anom, a figure honoured by local people.
Karangrejo has the spring called Sumber Dlopo and another called Sumber Kweden.
Paron has the spring called Sumber Kembangan.
Sumberejo has a market, known by the village name.
Tugurejo and Sumberejo are the villages most often connected with the arch and the planned centre.

There is some uncertainty about exactly which village the arch belongs to, because the monument stands on the boundary zone where the planned centre meets several villages. Different listings place it in Tugurejo or in Sumberejo. What is certain is that it stands in Ngasem, at the meeting point of five roads.

Simpang Lima Gumul: The Arch at the Centre

The arch is the best-known structure in the regency. Construction began in 2003 and the monument was finished and opened in 2008. The idea came from the regency head of the time, Soetrisno. It is about twenty-five metres tall and built in a neoclassical style, and its form is modelled on the famous triumphal arch in Paris. The name means the five-way junction of Gumul: the arch stands in the middle of a roundabout where five main roads meet, with roads leading toward several of the surrounding districts and one running south toward the city.

Why build a triumphal arch in a rice plain? The reason was to mark a moment. Like arches built in other parts of the world to celebrate a public event, this one was built to mark the move of the regency’s capital out of Kediri City and into Ngasem. Before that, the regency government sat in the city, which also had its own separate administration. Moving out gave both sides room to grow. The arch was therefore a statement, and it is still the way most residents recognise the regency capital. A fuller account of the monument is on the page for Simpang Lima Gumul, Kediri’s five-road monument.

Around the arch the regency planned a business and administrative zone. The plan lists a trade and services area, offices for government and private organisations, public facilities including a hospital, a sports facility and a stage for performances, a tourism zone and green open space. Facilities built so far include a convention hall, a multipurpose building, an intercity bus terminal and a shared minibus terminal, a green park, and a small park with a steam locomotive on display. A market operates in the zone on weekends, and another market serves Sumberejo. In short, the zone is a young city centre still filling in, and its roads are wide and its spaces open by comparison with the old town.

Pamenang: The Capital’s Name

The regency capital in Ngasem carries the name Pamenang. The name is chosen to recall Mamenang, the capital of the Kediri kingdom in the time of King Jayabaya in the twelfth century. Other names that were discussed for the new capital include Daha, Panjalu and Jenggala, all of them names from the medieval history of the region. That choice tells you how the regency sees itself: as the heir of a kingdom that once ruled much of East Java.

The history behind these names is told on the pages for the Kediri Kingdom and for King Jayabaya and his prophecy. The neighbouring district of Pagu is where the Jayabaya site stands, and the link between the capital’s name and that site is one of the most direct connections between modern Ngasem and the old kingdom.

Springs and Water Places

As in much of the Kediri plain, springs are the main natural attractions. In Ngasem the best known are Sumber Dlopo and Sumber Kweden in Karangrejo, Sumber Kembangan in Paron, and a bathing place called Kebun Amerta. They are all small, spring-fed places where cool water rises and is led into pools or channels. Of these, Sumber Dlopo is shallow and better suited to sitting by the water and relaxing than to swimming, and it has become busier with small food sellers over the years.

There is also a quieter side to the water. Springs in this district can feed village irrigation and household supply, and that is a good reminder that a spring is first of all a village resource and only second a place to relax. Visitors do best when they treat these places carefully, keep the pools clean and follow local rules.

Doko and the Tomb of Prabu Anom

The village of Doko sits on the border with Kediri City and keeps one of the district’s oldest traditions. In the village is the tomb of Prabu Anom, a site treated as sacred by local people. Residents believe he was a son of King Jayabaya, and some describe him as an ancestor who founded the village. The tomb is a punden, the Javanese word for a sacred burial place that is cared for by the village community.

Each year, in the Javanese month of Suro, the village holds a procession to the tomb. Participants carry traditional food and drink in a procession, and traditional drinks are poured into clay jars and set on the tomb as an offering. The village also prepares a fermented rice drink for the occasion. People take part in the belief that the offering brings health and success. It is a living village ritual rather than a staged show, and a visitor who arrives during the procession should watch quietly and ask before taking photographs.

The tomb is also a useful reminder that even in a district built around a modern arch, the older layer of Javanese village belief is intact. It is only a few kilometres from the five-road junction.

Markets, Schools and Daily Life

Daily life in Ngasem is shaped by its two roles. For the many villagers who farm, the day still follows the rice fields and the markets. Two markets are well known: the weekend market near the arch and the market at Sumberejo. For the people who work in the new administrative zone, the day follows the offices, the hospital and the schools and the university that have settled near the arch.

The result is a district with two speeds. On a weekday you find wide empty roads in the centre and busy small roads in the villages. On a weekend the arch area fills with families walking, children playing and food sellers setting up. If you want to see the arch quiet, visit on a weekday; if you want to see it alive, come on a weekend.

Getting to Ngasem and Moving On

Ngasem is easy to reach from the city by road, since it lies directly north. For arrivals by air, the page on Dhoho Airport in Kediri explains how to reach the regency. Within Ngasem the roads are wide and good, and the arch makes navigation simple: everything is oriented around the roundabout.

A relaxed half-day plan works well. Begin at the arch and the park, walk or drive a short way to a spring at Karangrejo, and finish in Doko for the tomb if the day suits. If you have more time, the neighbouring district of Gurah to the east has an important temple site and another route into the foothills, and the page on Candi Gurah give you a reason to continue there. For the wider setting of this region, start from East Java from Bali.

What Ngasem Shows About Kediri

Ngasem is a good place to see how a regency reinvents itself. A flat farming district was chosen as a capital, given a monument modelled on a European arch, named for a medieval capital, and filled with the buildings of modern government. At the same time, springs, a tomb, markets and rice fields survive within a few minutes of the roundabout. Seeing both layers in one short visit is what makes the district worth the stop.

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Ngasem District, Kediri: Simpang Lima Gumul and Springs