[CharonJr]

Well, to me it looks like there is/was quite a lot of fighting between the AIs since this seems to be the most likely explanation of this patchwork of provinces to your west (unless the single provinces are conntected in the uncharted portion of the map).

If this is the case you have an interesting decision to make, strengthen your position while letting the AIs slug it out and attack the AI who is getting the upper hand or step in as soon as you have finished with the samurais while ignoring the unclaimed indie provinces.

BTW, what would be your guess (unless you know it from the score-graphs anyway) about the relativ power of the AIs left in the game ?

CharonJr