We present the results of a study of a large sample of luminous Lyman
break galaxies (LBGs) in the  redshift interval 4.7<z<6.3, selected
from the Subaru XMM-Newton Deep Survey (SXDS).  Utilising the large
area coverage and the excellent available optical+nearIR data, we use
a photometric  redshift analysis to derive a new, robust, measurement
of the bright end (L>L*) of the UV-selected luminosity  function at
high redshift. When combined with the results of previous literature
studies, our new sample  provides improved constraints on the 5<z<6
luminosity function over the luminosity range 0.1 L*< L < 10 L*, and
indicates that L* dims by ~0.7 magnitudes between z=5 and z=6. In
addition, an analysis of the angular clustering properties of our LBG
sample demonstrates that luminous 5<z<6 LBGs are strongly clustered
(r_0=8.1 +/- 2.0 (h_70)^-1 Mpc), and are consistent with the
occupation of dark matter halos with masses of ~5x10^11 Msolar.
Moreover, by stacking the available multi-wavelength imaging data for
the high-redshift LBGs it is possible to place useful constraints on
their typical stellar mass. The results of this analysis suggest that
luminous LBGs at 5<z<6 have  an average stellar mass of ~10^10 Msolar,
and that the stellar mass density at z=5 and z=6 is ~1x10^7 Msolar
Mpc^-3  and ~4x10^6 Msolar Mpc^-3 respectively. Finally, we present
the first results of our on-going spectroscopic  follow-up programme
of our SXDS sample, which has already spectroscopically confirmed
several of our luminous LBGs  as strong Lyman-alpha emitters with
redshifts 6.0 < z < 6.1.