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."
天領という用語は、明治初期に旧幕府直轄領が天皇の御料（直轄領）になったときに天領と呼ばれるようになったため、さかのぼって幕府時代のものも天領と呼ぶようになったもので、江戸時代に使われていた用語ではない。