Ooari and Taika

I kept drawing this red, round yokai over, and over again. It appears in a lot of picture scrolls, but I have no idea what it is. I just think it looked fun to draw. My fixation made me neglect his mallet wielding counterpart, until now. Behold, I introduce you to the mischievous duo: Ooari and Taika. The black yokai with the large, beak-like nose, is Ooari, while Taika is the red, round yokai. Ooari is always seen swinging a mallet at Taika, at least in the picture scrolls he does. What they are is still vague. From what I’ve read in a figure review, they’re either, black or red ants, spirits that appear when grave sites are vandalized, or they’re just beating each other up for no reason. The last theory made me realize that the’re some kind of Ancient Japanese Tom and Jerry, Wile E. Coyote, Cat and mouse, shtick. What do you guys think?