Tenryo (Shogunal Demesne) (天領)
Tenryo is commonly known as a name for territories that were under the direct control of the Edo Shogunate.
Summary
The term "tenryo" was not used in the Edo period; its use began when territories that were under the control of the former Edo Shogunate became the Imperial property at the beginning of the Meiji era, and retrospectively, territories that were under the Shogunate's control during the Edo period also came to be referred to as "tenryo."
In the Edo period, those territories were called "shihaisho." Also, it was commonly known and referred to as "goryo," "goryosho," or "kogi goryo." The terms "bakufu-ryo" or "baku-ryo" (lit. Shogunate's territories) are often used in the present day.
Daikan-sho (Office of Local Governor) were established in each of the territories that were under the direct control of the Shogunate, and gundai (intendant of a region), daikan (local governor), or ongoku-bugyo (the collective name of the magistrates placed at important areas directly controlled by the government in the Edo period) governed those territories. Some of those territories were placed in charge of Daimyo lords as deposit places. Bakufu-ryo or baku-ryo was sometimes used as a term that includes hatamoto chigyo-chi (territories of hatamoto[direct retainers of the shogunate]) (about 3 million goku).
The tenryo started from the directly-controlled land of the Tokugawa clan during the period of the Toyotomi clan's regime, and with the addition of territories that were confiscated through such battles as the Battle of Sekigahara and the Seizes of Osaka, it was four million goku by the end of the 17th century. The land tax income became the financial basis for the shogunate, and tenryo also included major cities such as Osaka and Nagasaki, and mines such as the Sado Gold Mine. The whole provinces of Kai and Hida became tenryo.
As a part of the Tempo Reforms, Tadakuni MIZUNO, who became the head of Roju (senior councilors of the Tokugawa Shogunate) at the end of the Edo period, issued Agechi-rei (confiscation command of territory) to turn the area within a radius of 10 ri (one "ri" is about 3.927km) from the Edo and Osaka Castle into tenryo, and daimyo lords having territories around these castles criticized him severely.
Major Tourist Spots that had once been Tenryo
Hida Takayama
Takayama City (Takayama shihaisho)
Kurashiki Bikan Chiku (Kurashiki beautiful sight area)
Kurashiki City (Kurashiki shihaisho)
Iwami Silver Mine
Ota city (Omori shihaisho)
Mameda-machi, Hita
Hita City (Hita shihaisho)
Associated words
Han (domain) (about 22.5 million goku)
Chigyo-sho (Hatamoto Chigyo-chi [fief of Hatamoto])
Imperial properties, Imperial family's territories, and court nobles' territories (about 100,000 goku)
Territories of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines (about 400,000 goku)