To provide a cooling method and apparatus therefor by which cooling capacity is continuously adjusted without changing the quantity of water mass and the conveying speed of the steel sheet when cooling the steel sheet in a nucleate boiling area.

In a cooling method by which a high-temperature steel sheet which is conveyed on table rollers after hot-rolling is cooled by using a cooling system which is divided into a plurality of cooling blocks in the conveying direction of the steel sheet with dewatering devices and provided with a nozzle for jetting cooling water toward the surface of the steel sheet in a cooling block, the cooling rate of the steel sheet is controlled by continuously adjusting effective cooling area in each cooling block by performing the cooling of the steel sheet in each cooling block in the nucleate boiling state and also shifting the jetting position of the nozzle in the conveying direction of the steel sheet.