The Xuanzang Temple commemorates the Tang-dynasty Buddhist monk whose journey to India and back inspired the novel Journey to the West. The temple holds what is claimed to be a bone relic of Xuanzang himself, retrieved from Japan after the war and enshrined here in a small inner chamber. Whether the relic is authentic hardly matters — the setting on the hillside above the lake's north shore, reached by a path through dense forest, is genuinely atmospheric.
The approach through the forest gives the Xuanzang Temple a quieter, more meditative feel than the larger Wenwu Temple nearby. It is worth combining the two in a single walk along the northern lakeshore.