Pearl was founded by Katsumi Yanagisawa -who began manufacturing music stands in Sumida, Tokyo- on April 2, 1946.

To meet increasing worldwide demand for drum kits following the advent of rock and roll music, in 1961 Pearl built a 15,000 sq ft (1,400 m2) factory in Chiba, Japan to produce inexpensive drum kits, also known as "STENCIL KITS" that bore the brand names of more than thirty distributors such as Apollo, Coronet, Maxwin, CB-700, Stewart, Werco, Ideal, Crest, Revelle, Revere, Roxy, Lyra, Majestic, Silvertone, Toreador, WESTBURY and Whitehall.

Pearl also developed the hinged tube tom-arm, a design widely copied by many other drum manufacturers.

In the 1960s, they ceased making shells for other companies, and began manufacturing drums under their own name and used the Pearl logo for the first time.

The individual plies are scarf jointed, and all the seams are offset, resulting in a "seamless" drum (Pearl demonstrates the strength by parking a Humvee with its tire on a tom shell).

One of Pearl's major improvements was the introduction of the Uni-Lock tilter on their tom mounts and cymbal stands.

Many famous drummers play Pearl, such as: Jeff Porcaro, Ian Paice (Deep Purple), Daniel Erlandsson, Dennis Chambers, Tanner Wayne (In Flames), Ray Luzier (Korn), Peter Criss (KISS), Eric Singer (KISS), Jason Hartless (Ted Nugent), Jon Larsen (Volbeat), Mike Mangini (Dream Theater), Todd Sucherman (Styx), George Kollias (Nile), Brian Frasier-Moore (Justin Timberlake), Omar Hakim, Joey Jordison (Vimic), Jason "Cork" Nolasco (Reign), Casey Cooper, Jason Bowld (Bullet For My Valentine), Ashoor Zafarmoradian (Mayar Fallhi, Haman Band), Gary Husband, Michael "Moose" Thomas, Kevin Malone (Kevin and The Zits), and many more.