A method for cooling a hot-rolled steel sheet after finish rolling of a continuous hot rolling process, the cooling method comprising: cooling the hot-rolled steel sheet by jetting cooling water from spray nozzles to a steel sheet conveyance region in a width direction of the steel sheet conveyance region, wherein the steel sheet conveyance region is a region that the hot-rolled steel sheet occupies on conveyor rolls, a pair of spray nozzles is arranged on both lateral sides in the width direction of the steel sheet conveyance region, and a plurality of spray nozzle pairs are aligned in a conveyance direction of the hot-rolled steel sheet, wherein in regard to a collision region of cooling water jetted from the spray nozzle at the steel sheet conveyance region, a far end in a jet direction is positioned at an end of the steel sheet conveyance region, and a near end is positioned on an inner side of the steel sheet conveyance region, and in the spray nozzle pair, the near ends of two collision regions coincide in the width direction to form a meeting, wherein the meeting is positioned within a meeting zone marked off at the center in the width direction of the steel sheet conveyance region, a width of the meeting zone satisfies Formula below, and an interval in the width direction between the meetings of the spray nozzle pairs adjacent to each other in the conveyance direction is a length of the collision region in the conveyance direction or more, W ≤ D + 2 d − D + d sinθ 2 / sin θ 1 + θ 2 where W is the width of the meeting zone, D is a width of the steel sheet conveyance region, d is a horizontal distance between an injection port of the spray nozzle and an end of the steel sheet conveyance region on a side near to the jet, θ 1 is a spray jet angle, and θ 2 is a spray installation angle corresponding to an angle formed by a line from the injection port of the spray nozzle perpendicular to the plane of the steel sheet conveyance region and a line connecting the injection port of the spray nozzle and the near end of the collision region. cooling the hot-rolled steel sheet by jetting cooling water from spray nozzles to a steel sheet conveyance region in a width direction of the steel sheet conveyance region, wherein the steel sheet conveyance region is a region that the hot-rolled steel sheet occupies on conveyor rolls, a pair of spray nozzles is arranged on both lateral sides in the width direction of the steel sheet conveyance region, and a plurality of spray nozzle pairs are aligned in a conveyance direction of the hot-rolled steel sheet, wherein in regard to a collision region of cooling water jetted from the spray nozzle at the steel sheet conveyance region, a far end in a jet direction is positioned at an end of the steel sheet conveyance region, and a near end is positioned on an inner side of the steel sheet conveyance region, and in the spray nozzle pair, the near ends of two collision regions coincide in the width direction to form a meeting, wherein the meeting is positioned within a meeting zone marked off at the center in the width direction of the steel sheet conveyance region, a width of the meeting zone satisfies Formula below, and an interval in the width direction between the meetings of the spray nozzle pairs adjacent to each other in the conveyance direction is a length of the collision region in the conveyance direction or more, W ≤ D + 2 d − D + d sinθ 2 / sin θ 1 + θ 2 where W is the width of the meeting zone, D is a width of the steel sheet conveyance region, d is a horizontal distance between an injection port of the spray nozzle and an end of the steel sheet conveyance region on a side near to the jet, θ 1 is a spray jet angle, and θ 2 is a spray installation angle corresponding to an angle formed by a line from the injection port of the spray nozzle perpendicular to the plane of the steel sheet conveyance region and a line connecting the injection port of the spray nozzle and the near end of the collision region.